ASTRONOMY OUTREACH AND EDUCATION RESOURCES

Wonderful monthly star charts are free for scout & student use at
Go to URL http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

View Jack Horkheimer's wacky & fun 5 minute weekly PBS video "Stargazer" - the world's only weekly television series on naked eye astronomy.
Each weekly episode features selected objects for naked eye viewing for the following week.Go to URL http://www.jackstargazer.com/JHSG_DNLD.html.

Check out the Astronomy Picture of the Day
 Go to URLhttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

See an interactive map of the moon showing with all the Apollo spacecraft landings! Zoom in & out & have fun exploring the moon at
Go to URLhttp://www.google.com/moon

The International Dark-Sky Association's mission is to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies. 
Download their award-winning quarterly publicationDownload FileNightscape Issue #75

Find out more about the March 28 "Earth Hour" Dark Sky Event for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 atGo to URLhttp://www.earthhour.org. North America needs to step up a bit in support of this important event. Children of urban America have not seen the splendor of dark skies!Download FileRun your own Earth Hour - download their quick pdf guide for how to run Earth Hour in your city or town.

Your local astronomy club loves to help with youth outreach events.  Here are a few:

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy!

Video Introduction to the International Year of Astronomy
View Instructional Video http://www.astrosociety.org/samplers/3_READY_TO_OBSERVE.mov

NASA has big plans for IYA
Go to URLhttp://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/

Find out what else is happening for IYA in the USA
Go to URLhttp://astronomy2009.us/

January 2009 IYA Discovery Guide: Telescopes and Space Probes: Today's Starry Messengers 01 January 2009 IYA Discovery Guide:
Telescopes and Space Probes: Today's Starry Messengers

Use this guide to discover the excitement of the International Year of Astronomy. January's theme is Telescopes and Space Probes: Today's Starry Messengers. Learn about Venus this month and use the "Are You Ready to Observe?" activity to get your eyeballs primed to look up.

Download January 2009 IYA Discovery Guide
 Download Filehttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/01IYADiscoveryGuide.pdf (4.32 MB)

Get inspired by IYA with this short video
 Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=316

Use this PowerPoint to learn about telescopes
Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=143

Find out why Venus has phases with this activity
Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=332

Confused about telescope power? Try this activity
 Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=346
 

February 2009 IYA Discovery Guide: Our Solar System 02 February 2009 IYA Discovery Guide:
Our Solar System

Use this guide to discover the excitement of the International Year of Astronomy. February's theme is Our Solar System. Also learn about the Moon this month and have a blast with the Spotting Craters activity.

 Download FileDownload February 2009 IYA Discovery Guide (PDF, 2.16 MB)
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/02IYADiscoveryGuide.pdf (2.16 MB

Extend this month's guide with these activities
 Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=291

Observe the Moon in greater detail using this guide
 Go to URL http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=331

Do you know why the Moon has phases?
 Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=329

Use this PowerPoint to explore our Solar System
Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=236

Make a scale model of the Solar System
Go to URLhttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-view.cfm?Doc_ID=342

View Instructional Video How to observe craters on the moon
View Instructional Videohttp://www.astrosociety.org/samplers/ss-craters-sampler.mov

March 2009 IYA Discovery Guide: Observing at Night...and in the Day03 March 2009 IYA Discovery Guide:
Observing at Night...and in the Day

Use this guide to discover the excitement of the International Year of Astronomy. March's theme is Observing at Night...and in the Day. Find out about dark skies and how lighting affects our skies with the Light Pollution and Shielding activity. Join us in an international science project- GLOBE at Night.

Download March 2009 IYA Discovery Guide (PDF, 1.73 MB)
Download Filehttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/03IYADiscoveryGuide.pdf (1.73 MB)

Download Dark Skies Working Group (DSWG) Poster
Download Filehttp://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/DS_IYAposter.pdf (1.86 MB)

Join us March 16-28 for GLOBE at Night!
Go to URLhttp://www.globe.gov/GaN/

Include Sun-Earth Day on March 20th
Go to URLhttp://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2009/about/index.php

Use these great new IDA brochures to get the word out
Go to URLhttp://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=59509

Here's another fun activity to do with young kids
Go to URLhttp://www.lettherebenight.com/turtles.html

More monthly activities are available from the Night Sky Network
 http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download-search.cfm