Little STEM Books

Want to take your K-12 students on an out-of-this-world adventure? Sign up for a Virtual Field Trip with the Chandra X-ray Observatory!🌌

Check out the observatory's control room, explore the spacecraft in VR, and visit exploding stars.🌟

Sessions fill up fast! Register at https://chandra.harvard.edu/fieldtrip/registration.html.

If you drop a pebble into a pond, the size of the ripples gives you an idea about the size of the pebble. Astronomers can do a similar thing using radio waves and asteroids!

In 2018, the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observed how radio waves rippled around the asteroid Palma. From this data, astronomers were able to get a better understanding of Palma's size and shape.

📸 Credit: Credit: B. Saxton NRAO/ Associated Universities, Inc / National Science Foundation (NSF)

How would you use open data from the to better our understanding of the Sun's effects on Earth and in space? ☀️

Or create an engaging, interactive tool to improve public knowledge and understanding of space weather. ⚡

Or perhaps develop an application that uses data from the amateur radio International Space Station broadcast system to display images of Earth’s ionosphere. 🌎

Put your ideas into action at the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Challenge: https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/

Learn basic coding using data from space telescopes of exploded stars, star-forming regions, and black holes! With Recoloring the Universe, you will see how integral coding is in the pursuit of learning about our universe: https://chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/edu/pencilcode/

Have you ever wondered what types of planets exist? Or how to stars form, live, and die?

These are just a few astronomy questions we help you explore, thanks to NASA’s Universe of Learning! Explore the resources and begin to envision yourself as a scientist: https://www.universe-of-learning.org/learners-families

The Evolution of Extreme Solar Events Research - NSO - National Solar Observatory A recently published living review traces the evolution of research in extreme solar events spanning from bygone centuries to the modern era.

Studying planets near and far reveals their varied environments. But did you know that some planets can have clouds made of rock?

Scientists used archival data from our retired Spitzer telescope to study the atmospheric conditions of numerous brown dwarfs. These are objects larger than a planet but not big enough to become a star, with atmospheres that can be very similar to gas-dominated planets. The researchers were looking for clouds made of a type of mineral called silicates that form most of the rocks in Earth’s crust. The team determined the temperature range at which silicate clouds form and are visible at the top of a brown dwarf’s atmosphere. Learning more about extreme atmospheric features, like clouds made of rock, can also help us better understand the menagerie of planetary atmospheres that scientists are discovering outside our solar system.

Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/3OMIaOa

Our NuSTAR observatory has spent the past decade collecting high-energy X-rays from some of the most exciting sources in the universe. For its 10th anniversary, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed a fabulous new mission poster! Download it in English and Spanish: https://go.nasa.gov/3b3zvb1