Before you start, make sure you have reviewed our Educators/Caregivers Launch Pad.
The steps in blue below are the steps also included on the Youth Road Map. As the educator, familiarize yourself with each of the steps before you assist your youth. You may even want to go through all of the steps and create your own exhibit just like they will.
Solar System Formation / Exoplanets
This section is about what a solar system is and how other solar systems and other earths are formed.
Life and Death of a Planetary System
Chapters 2 and 3 are good introductions to solar system and planet formation.
Runtime: 5 minutes 47 seconds
The Goldilocks Paradox Unplugged: Behind the Sci-Fi
Runtime: 3 minutes 35 seconds
A discussion between astronomers about the previous video. There are 4 videos here about the Goldilocks Paradox. As the educator, watch all 4 and see which, if any, are relevant to your youth.
How Many Solar Systems Are In Our Galaxy?
How Many Solar Systems Are In Our Galaxy? (Spanish)
What Is an Exoplanet? (Spanish)
Runtime: 5 minutes 47 seconds
The Goldilocks Paradox Unplugged: Behind the Sci-Fi
Runtime: 3 minutes 35 seconds
A discussion between astronomers about the previous video. There are 4 videos here about the Goldilocks Paradox. As the educator, watch all 4 and see which, if any, are relevant to your youth.
Runtime: 5 minutes 10 seconds
Watch Out For: A shorter version of this video, which is more appropriate for youth in middle school, is available here:
How Can We Find Hidden Planets?
Runtime: 2 minutes 22 seconds
This is a fun program to explore with your youth. You can look at all kinds of exoplanets.
The "Extreme Planet Makeover" on the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest site lets your youth create their very own planet. They can balance five factors to create an Earth-like habitable world, or they can get wild and make their own extreme exoplanet.
Watch Out For: It requires you to enable Adobe Flash Player and works best in Google Chrome.
This resource provides an overview from star and planet formation to methods of exoplanet detection and the search for life in other worlds. It contains interactives and games throughout.
Watch Out For: This is an older resource, so some information is outdated.
Using the DIY tools youth collect and analyze their own images of other star systems. This investigation consists of 5 steps. Scheduling a target, controlling the telescope, mesauring brightness, interpeting and sharing, and finally sharing community results. The targets of this activity can be found here.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Database of Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
Your youth should use these templates, which are PowerPoint files, to create their exhibits. Encourage your youth to follow the specified guidelines for text and picture boxes.
Be sure to include proper credits for your images. You may include a logo of your program, school, or organization if desired.
Download A Template:
Watch Out For: If you do not have printing capabilities, you can display these on screens as PowerPoint presentations.
Search For Life
This section is about why scientists are looking for exoplanets. It focuses on the search for life in other worlds and whether we are alone in the Universe.
Runtime: 3 minutes 42 seconds
Runtime: 4 minutes 23 seconds
Watch Out For: The first part of this video discusses methods of exoplanet detection, and the second part focuses on the search for life in other worlds.
Habitable Exoplanets Debunked!
Runtime: 6 minutes 35 seconds
Watch Out For: This video also discusses methods scientists use to detect exoplanets.
How Do We Use Spectroscopy To Search For Life?
Runtime: 1 minute 26 seconds
Watch Out For: This video is about the James Webb Space Telescope, but it uses data from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Runtime: 3 minutes 42 seconds
Searching For Other Planets Like Ours
Runtime: 1 minute 56 seconds
Watch Out For: This video only discusses the transit method.
Focus on the “Habitable conditions” and “Looking for signs of life” activities. For these activities, know that the Habitable Zone is the same as the Goldilocks Zone.
Using the DIY tools youth collect and analyze their own images of other star systems. This investigation consists of 5 steps. Scheduling a target, controlling the telescope, mesauring brightness, interpeting and sharing, and finally sharing community results. The targets of this activity can be found here.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Database of Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
Your youth should use these templates, which are PowerPoint files, to create their exhibits. Encourage your youth to follow the specified guidelines for text and picture boxes.
Be sure to include proper credits for your images. You may include a logo of your program, school, or organization if desired.
Download A Template:
Watch Out For: If you do not have printing capabilities, you can display these on screens as PowerPoint presentations.
Extremophiles
This section is about extremophiles, where they live on Earth, and how studying them on our planet may help us understand if there is life on other worlds.
Microbial Life and Astrobiology
Our World: What is an Extremophile?
Runtime: 2 minutes 43 seconds
Our World: Where Do We Find Extremophiles?
Runtime: 3 minutes 25 seconds
Why Extremophiles Bode Well for Life Beyond Earth - Louisa Preston (TED-Ed)
Runtime: 3 minutes 59 seconds
This interactive allows students to explore extreme environments, on Earth and other planets, and the organisms that live there.
Our World: What is an Extremophile?
Runtime: 2 minutes 43 seconds
Our World: Where Do We Find Extremophiles?
Runtime: 3 minutes 25 seconds
Why Extremophiles Bode Well for Life Beyond Earth - Louisa Preston (TED-Ed)
Runtime: 3 minutes 59 seconds
Watch Out For: There are two different versions of this activity for middle school and high school youth, but the only difference is the vocabulary definitions. Also, temperatures are listed in Celsius, so you may want to review the Celsius scale with your youth if they are not familiar with it.
Visit this webpage for ideas on how to use these cards, especially with the Life in Extreme Environments interactive.
Watch Out For: Some of the suggested activities are more educationally rich than others, so determine which activities best meet your learning goals for your youth.
Life In The Extreme Card Activity
Using the DIY tools youth collect and analyze their own images of other star systems. This investigation consists of 5 steps. Scheduling a target, controlling the telescope, mesauring brightness, interpeting and sharing, and finally sharing community results. The targets of this activity can be found here.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Database of Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
Your youth should use these templates, which are PowerPoint files, to create their exhibits. Encourage your youth to follow the specified guidelines for text and picture boxes.
Be sure to include proper credits for your images. You may include a logo of your program, school, or organization if desired.
Download A Template:
Watch Out For: If you do not have printing capabilities, you can display these on screens as PowerPoint presentations.
Methods of Detection
This section is about the various methods scientists use to detect exoplanets.
Runtime: 4 minutes 23 seconds
Runtime: 1 minute 35 seconds
Watch Out For: This is a shorter version of the previous video.
Runtime: 10 minutes 37 seonds
Watch Out For: Skip ahead to 3 minutes into the video to begin learning about methods of detection. This video was made before the Kepler Space Telescope, so some information is not up-to-date. However, all information on methods of detection is accurate.
Habitable Exoplanets Debunked!
Runtime: 6 minutes 35 seconds
Watch Out For This video primarily discusses the search for other habitable planets, but it also explains methods scientists use to detect exoplanets.
What is a Barycenter? (Spanish)
Graphics:
ViewSpace - Transiting Exoplanets
Watch Out For: ViewSpace is a great resource to understand the different types of light used when studying astronomical objects. When using this site, begin with this page to help understand how the website works.
Runtime: 1 minute 35 seconds
Runtime: 3 minutes 33 seconds
How Do We Learn About A Planet's Atmosphere? (About Transit)
Runtime: 2 minutes 11 seconds
Watch Out For: This is an advanced activity. It requires you to enable Adobe Flash Player and works best in Google Chrome. We also strongly recommend viewing the Users’ Guide, which has screen-by-screen video tutorials and text transcripts.
In the "Planet Size" section, it lists Mars as one example of a planet too small to hold an atmosphere, which is not completely accurate.
Using the DIY tools youth collect and analyze their own images of other star systems. This investigation consists of 5 steps. Scheduling a target, controlling the telescope, mesauring brightness, interpeting and sharing, and finally sharing community results. The targets of this activity can be found here.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Database of Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
Your youth should use these templates, which are PowerPoint files, to create their exhibits. Encourage your youth to follow the specified guidelines for text and picture boxes.
Be sure to include proper credits for your images. You may include a logo of your program, school, or organization if desired.
Download A Template:
Watch Out For: If you do not have printing capabilities, you can display these on screens as PowerPoint presentations.
Missions / People
This section is about the different missions and telescopes that are on the search for exoplanets and the scientists who conduct research in the area of exoplanet science.
The two missions that have done the most in exoplanet research are Kepler and TESS. Learn more about them:
Additional resources about other missions conducting exoplanet research:
A listing of scientists, writers, and administrators who work on projects related to exoplanets.
How TESS Collects and Processes Data
Runtime: 1 minute 53 seconds
Runtime: 7 minutes 28 seconds
How Can We Find Hidden Planets?
Runtime: 2 minutes 22 seconds
Exoplanet Exploration: Historic Timeline
The two missions that have done the most in exoplanet research are Kepler and TESS. Learn more about them:
Other missions conducting exoplanet research:
Hubble Space Telescope Video Archive: Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
A listing of scientists, writers, and administrators who work on projects related to exoplanets.
How TESS Collects and Processes Data
Runtime: 1 minute 53 seconds
Runtime: 3 minutes 33 seconds
NOVA: Finding Life Beyond Earth | Planet-Hunting*
Runtime: 4 minutes 34 seconds
*This video is also available in Spanish by clicking "Also Available In Spanish" underneath the video player.
Watch Out For: This is an advanced activity. It requires you to enable Adobe Flash Player and works best in Google Chrome. I also strongly recommend viewing the Users’ Guide, which has screen-by-screen video tutorials and text transcripts.
In the "Planet Size" section, it lists Mars as one example of a planet too small to hold an atmosphere, which is not completely accurate.
Using the DIY tools youth collect and analyze their own images of other star systems. This investigation consists of 5 steps. Scheduling a target, controlling the telescope, mesauring brightness, interpeting and sharing, and finally sharing community results. The targets of this activity can be found here.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Database of Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
Your youth should use these templates, which are PowerPoint files, to create their exhibits. Encourage your youth to follow the specified guidelines for text and picture boxes.
Be sure to include proper credits for your images. You may include a logo of your program, school, or organization if desired.
Download A Template:
Watch Out For: If you do not have printing capabilities, you can display these on screens as PowerPoint presentations.
Planetary Systems Discovered
This section has resources about the variety of other solar systems and other planets that scientists have discovered.
How Many Solar Systems Are in Our Galaxy?
How Many Solar Systems Are in Our Galaxy? (Spanish)
Watch Out For: This was written before the discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system.
10 Things: All About TRAPPIST-1
Runtime: 1 minute 32 seconds
The Seven Planets of TRAPPIST-1
Runtime: 4 minutes 51 seconds
Runtime: 5 minutes 10 seconds
Watch Out For: This video primarily discusses planet formation; however, it introduces the diversity of other solar systems and planets.
Which Planets Might Support Life?
Runtime: 1 minute 58 seconds
Watch Out For: This video begins by discussing TRAPPIST-1.
How Many Solar Systems Are in Our Galaxy?
How Many Solar Systems Are in Our Galaxy? (Spanish)
Using artists’ impressions, explore the surfaces of exoplanets in 3D.
These are links to lists of exoplanets, or other planetary systems, that your youth can explore:
Watch Out For: This resource is more on an intermediate or advanced content and reading level.
Watch Out For: This resource includes additional methods of discovery that may not have been introduced to you or your youth.
Runtime: 1 minute 32 seconds
Not So Strange New Worlds (About TRAPPIST-1)
Runtime: 1 minute 8 seconds
Watch Out For: This video does not have narration.
Which Planets Might Support Life?
Runtime: 1 minute 58 seconds
Watch Out For: This video begins by discussing TRAPPIST-1.
Create Your Own TRAPPIST-1 Model System
This video of artists' concepts of the seven planets of TRAPPIST-1 may be useful for this activity: Imagining The Planets Of TRAPPIST-1
Using the DIY tools youth collect and analyze their own images of other star systems. This investigation consists of 5 steps. Scheduling a target, controlling the telescope, mesauring brightness, interpeting and sharing, and finally sharing community results. The targets of this activity can be found here.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Database of Exoplanets
Watch Out For: Make sure you let your youth know that there are no real images of exoplanets, so everything you will find about them are artists’ impressions.
Your youth should use these templates, which are PowerPoint files, to create their exhibits. Encourage your youth to follow the specified guidelines for text and picture boxes.
Be sure to include proper credits for your images. You may include a logo of your program, school, or organization if desired.
Download A Template:
Watch Out For: If you do not have printing capabilities, you can display these on screens as PowerPoint presentations.
