Planet Earth and Beyond – The night sky

The Science Learning Hub has lots of resources for primary teachers related to the night sky in the Planet Earth and Beyond strand of the New Zealand Curriculum.

A colourful galaxy

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The galaxy M81 is revealed using different types of telescopes. This is a combined image from optical, infrared and ultraviolet telescopes. Different parts of the M81 galaxy show up when viewed at different wavelengths: blue parts are ultraviolet, white parts are visible light and red parts are infrared. Spiral galaxy M81 is 12 million light years away and is similar in shape to our own Milky Way.

Rights: NASA/JPL-CaltechNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

The night sky is fascinating to talk about with children. It evokes a sense of wonder and mystery. Have a look through these resources for some ideas.

• Space – viewing with our own eyes

• Space – viewing with instruments

• Visiting space

• How do we know what is out there?

• Tātai arorangi

• General information

• Heritage scientist – Beatrice Hill Tinsley

• Citizen science

Space – viewing with our own eyes

Before radio, television or GPS existed, people would look at the night sky as a means of entertainment, to tell stories or to determine direction. The following resources use objects students can see in the night sky without the aid of a telescope.

Navigating without instruments

Wayfinding or navigating without instruments is about ocean voyaging using the stars, the Sun, the Moon, the ocean swells and other natural signs for clues to direction and location. See also the resources under Tātai arorangi.

Navigating without instruments – introductory article with links to media, articles and student activities

Navigating with Sun, Moon and planets – article

The celestial sphere – article

The star compass – kāpehu whetū – article

Constellations in the night sky – activity

Sun rising in the southern hemisphere

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The Sun’s rising and setting points change throughout the year. In the spring and autumn equinoxes, the Sun rises due east and sets due west. At summer solstice, the Sun rises at ESE and sets at WSW and at winter solstice, it rises at ENE and sets at WNW.

Rights: University of Waikato. All Rights Reserved.

Natural satellites

A natural satellite is any celestial body in space that orbits around a larger body. Moons are called natural satellites because they orbit planets.

Natural satellites – article

Our solar system – revolutionary ideas – article

Observing natural satellites – activity

Spotting satellites – activity

Space – viewing with instruments

Some times we need to rely on instruments to see things in space. Discover a few of these amazing objects in the Solar System and beyond.

The Sun and white dwarfs – article

How a solar system is formed – article

Space plasma – article

Red giants in the night sky – article

Comets – article

To catch a comet the Rosetta Mission – article

Visiting space

The official beginning of space is 100 km above the Earth’s surface. Rockets launched into space can be suborbital (brief visit to space) or orbital (staying in motion around the Earth) or can escape Earth’s gravity to travel deeper into space. The International Space Station orbits at a height of about 360 km.

Getting rockets into space – article

Investigating rockets – introduction – introductory article with links to media, articles and student activities

Lift off at Māhia!

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The first Electron rocket launch test, called ‘It’s a test’, blasts off into space on 25 May 2017. The launch made New Zealand the 11th nation to launch a satellite.

Rights: Rocket Lab

How do we know what is out there?

Look up into the sky at night. Just with your eyes, you can often see the Moon, planets, stars – even a couple of galaxies outside the Milky Way. With a telescope, you can see a lot more – fainter and more distant stars, dust clouds, galaxies. But there is a lot you can’t see, even with a powerful telescope, because not everything in space gives out light we can detect with our eyes. Find out how astronomers study space from a distance

Space revealed – introductory article with links to media, articles and student activities

Planet hunting – article

Exploring with telescopes – activity which uses an interactive and an online or paper-based quiz to learn about different types of telescopes and the types of space objects they are best suited to view.

Hunt the planet – activity

Is anything out there? – activity

This is one of the great attractions of this subject; there is always something more to learn, a deeper insight to achieve. It’s rarely a matter of, oh well, I understand this, let’s move on.

Professor Denis Sullivan

Matariki (Pleiades) star cluster

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Wayfinders have used the stars as a compass for millennia.

Rights: Fraser Gunn

Tātai arorangi

Māori ancestors possessed a wealth of astronomical knowledge that they referred to as tātai arorangi. See also some of the resources under Navigating without instruments.

Revitalising Māori astronomy – article

Tātai arorangi – video

Te kāhui o Matariki – image

The Matariki star cluster – article

Naming the whetū in te kāhui o Matariki – activity

Picturebooks for Matariki – webinar

General information

Stars – image

Close shave with Asteroid 2011 MD – article

Lonely planets wander galaxy – article

Investigating satellites – introduction – introductory article with links to media, articles and student activities

Satellite fall to Earth over Pacific – article

Solar flares hurl charged particles at Earth – article

Heritage scientist – Beatrice Hill Tinsley

New Zealand cosmologist Beatrice Hill Tinsley was the first female professor of astronomy at Yale University. Her research added to the wide acceptance of the Big Bang theory.

Read her biography: Beatrice Hill Tinsley

Use the timeline to read about aspects of Beatrice's life and work, and how her findings changed scientific thinking.

I used to read the encyclopedia as a kid and wish I could understand and contribute to cosmology.

Beatrice Hill Tinsley

Citizen science

Citizen scientists are volunteers who contribute to scientific projects, usually by collecting or analysing data. The number of opportunities to be involved as citizen scientists continues to grow, and teachers are increasingly using them to make science education more relevant and engaging and to develop students’ science capabilities. Explore the citizen science projects below:

• Planet Hunters (read the case study and accompanying unit plan to see how one year 7/8 teacher used this and Agent Exoplanet with his class)

• Agent Exoplanet (read the case study and accompanying unit plan to see how one year 7/8 teacher used this and Planet Hunters with his class)

• Globe at Night (read the case study and accompanying unit plan to see how one year 5/6 teacher used this with her class)

• Loss of the Night

Two photos of Wellington on the same night

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These photos were both taken on the same night. The photo on the left was taken from Mount Victoria, above the CBD. The photo on the right was taken out at Red Rocks, an unpopulated area only 15 minutes from the first location, and the Milky Way is clearly visible.

Rights: Mark Gee, The Art of Night