Home » Teachers » Resources for VCE Physics » Units 1 & 2 Resources » Astronomy
Astronomy
Resources, Classroom Activities, Paul Fitzgerald's Files,
Assessment Ideas, IT Applications
Resources
Text Resources
- Davidson, N 1993, Sky Phenomena: A guide to naked-eye observation of the stars, Lindisfarne Press, New York.
- Ellyard, D 2001, Sky Watch: A Guide to the Southern Skies, ABC Books, Sydney.
- Freedman, RA & Kaufmann, WJ 2002, Universe, 6th edn, CD incl, WH Freeman and Company, New York.
- Wyatt, P 1996, Astronomy for the Southern Hemisphere, CSIRO Series, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.
Audiovisual Resources
It is recommended that teachers should view any video before purchase.
Marcom Projects: How Telescopes Work
Classroom Activities
Type | Filename | Filesize | |
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22 kB | ||
A list of books and lab resources that may be of use in implementing the Astronomy and Astrophysics Detailed Studies in the new curriculum. | |||
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28.2 kB | ||
A list of websites that may be of use in implementing the Astronomy and Astrophysics Detailed Studies in the new curriculum. | |||
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32.8 kB | ||
How to construct a very rudimentary altitude finder using an old CD. | |||
Victorian Space Science Education Centre
At Strathmore Secondary College offers programs for VCE Physics students.
Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Offers virtual 3D tours; a regional program is available.
Paul Fitzgerald's Files
At the 2008 Physics Teachers Conference Paul presented a session on teaching the Astronomy Area of Study. These are the documents that he supplied to the Conference Proceedings.
Type | Filename | Filesize | |
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3.21 MB | ||
A presentation on Astronomy without a telescope. An extensive range of Paul's material can be found at here. | |||
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2.65 MB | ||
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4.78 MB | ||
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142 kB | ||
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137 kB | ||
List of web links and resources including references to articles in teacher periodicals and the words to the Python's "The Galaxy Song". | |||
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1.76 MB | ||
Explanatory document. | |||
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2.31 MB | ||
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743 kB | ||
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49.6 kB | ||
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5.59 MB | ||
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26.1 MB | ||
Tne projection enables the image to be cut out and pasted on a tennis ball. | |||
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1.35 MB | ||
The grid is used to plot stars of the southern sky | |||
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1.4 MB | ||
A grid to plot stars of the northern sky. | |||
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968 kB | ||
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19.2 kB | ||
IT Applications
Type | Filename | Filesize | |
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604 kB | ||
A free astronomy sky program providing a view of the sky from anywhere at any time. It enables fast forward to show the motion of the planets and stars over any time period. This version opens up with the view from Melbourne. Although originally shareware the originators seem to have vanished so it is effectively free. Unfortunately there is an intermittent error that occurs on opening. If this occurs close the program and try again, it should open after a few tries. If you know how to fix the problem send us an email. | |||
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13.9 kB | ||
This app simulates the conjunctions of Mercury and why they are not regular. | |||
Useful Websites
Astronomical Society of Victoria
The Astronomical Society of Victoria is based in Melbourne, Australia and includes city and many country members. The Society attracts people with astronomical interests, from a wide range of ages and with a wide range of abilities and interests.
Life history of a star
Very nice links with text and photos of real things. I like this one very much.
Astronomy in the deep freeze
Infra red astro in the Antarctic. Astro in different parts of the spectrum.
Hyperphysics
An encyclopedia of physics including a section on Astro and relativity. Very useable, simple and complete.
On-line course in first year Astro
Very pretty, very sensible, very well organised.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Up to date pics of great things eg the most distant objects etc.
American Astronomical Society
This site can access some useful educational sites of web-based courses, teaching strategies, demos, practical activities as well as software and applets. The site also gives access to sophisticated astronomy and astrophysics journals.
Locating Satellites in the Night Sky
This NASA site enables you to select Melbourne Australia and to find out when and where you will be able to see the bright artificial satellites, such as the ISS, the Shuttle, Hubble, COBE, etc in the night sky. The data takes several minutes to download.
NASA Astrophysics Data System
This site has two components, an abstract service and an article service. The article service convers over 40,000 journal articles, including historical articles.