Research Guides: OER: Astronomy

WikiBooks

General Astronomy
" This Wikibook introduces the reader to that tapestry and the process that revealed it to humanity. It presents astronomy not only as a field of knowledge, but also as a human endeavor in science."

OpenStax College

Astronomy
"Astronomy is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of one- or two-semester introductory astronomy courses. The book begins with relevant scientific fundamentals and progresses through an exploration of the solar system, stars, galaxies and cosmology."

Videos

Ted Talks

Khan Academy

Khan Academy Astronomy and Cosmology

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom.

NASA Solar System and Beyond

As NASA missions explore our solar system and search for new worlds, they are finding water in surprising places. Water is but one piece of our search for habitable planets and life beyond Earth, yet it links many seemingly unrelated worlds in surprising ways.

Solar System and Beyond

NASA Solve

NASA Solve
"NASA Solve lists opportunities available to the general public to contribute to solving tough problems related to NASA’s mission through challenges, prize competitions, and crowdsourcing activities."

Astronomy Education Clearighouse

UW Astronomy Education Clearinghouse
"The Clearinghouse provides a way for astronomy educators to share assignments, activities, and teaching tips. This material is made available under a Creative Commons license that allows you to adapt it as you like, as long as you credit the authors and use it for non-commercial purposes. You may share your adaptation, but only under a similar license. If the original authors are unknown, please credit the "UW Astronomy Clearinghouse"

Open Courses

ASTR 101
" ASTR101, you will be introduced to our current understanding of the universe and how we have come to this understanding. We will start with the ancient Greeks and their belief that the universe was an orderly place capable of being understood. We will continue through history, as we acquired more information on the nature of the universe and our models of the universe changed to reflect this." From Saylor
ASTR 101
"This course provides an introduction to the universe beyond the Earth. We begin with a study
of the night sky and the history of the science of astronomy." From Open Source Library
Introduction to Astronomy
"Introduction to Astronomy provides a quantitative introduction to the physics of the solar system, stars, the interstellar medium, the galaxy, and the universe, as determined from a variety of astronomical observations and models." From MIT Open Course

Simulations

NASA Image Gallery Search
Search for images in the following galleries:
New Horizons at Pluto
International Space Station
Mars Missions
Orion Spacecraft
Space Launch System
Earth Missions
Hubble Space Telescope
Spitzer Space Telescope
Cassini at Saturn
James Webb Space Telescope
New Horizons Image Gallery
"The New Horizons mission is helping us understand worlds at the edge of our solar system by making the first reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Pluto and by venturing deeper into the distant, mysterious Kuiper Belt – a relic of solar system formation"
Simple Animations of Basic Concepts of Physics and Astronomy
"This is a growing collection of animations (primarily 3-D) animations of concepts, principles and processes in introductory physics and conceptual astronomy."

Other Resources

Become a Disk Detective
We need your help to discover the birthplace of planets in never-before seen data!
NASA Vesta Trek
This application allows you to view imagery and perform analysis from Asteroid Vesta

PhET Simulations

PhET Simulations Astronomy

PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. It extensively tests and evaluates each simulation to ensure educational effectiveness. These tests include student interviews and observation of simulation use in classrooms. The simulations are written in Java, Flash or HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded to your computer. All simulations are open source.

NASA E-Book

Hubble 25: A Quarter Century of Discovery

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's 25th anniversary, explore 25 of Hubble’s breathtaking and significant images. From planets in our own solar system to snapshots from a time when our universe was very young, these images are presented according to their distance from Earth, from near to far. Along with companion descriptions and videos, the 25 images highlight the telescope's amazing capabilities.

OER

Astronomy OER