Learning About Outer Space


(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

Those who know me well know how passionate I am about astronomy and how I love to promote the hobby.  However, I have been controlling the itch to feature it in this blog because I did not want to encourage your kids to violate curfew rules and the other safety measures being imposed these days.

But then, I realized, there is no reason kids cannot do what we amateur astronomers do whenever the weather is not conducive to stargazing: take advantage of the downtime to read up about outer space. 

There is also no reason you cannot join your kids in learning about outer space.

 One resource is the kids' section of the NASA website, which has stories, games, pictures, videos, and other activities. (WARNING: please supervise your kids in doing the activities. Also, use your sound parental judgment in deciding whether to allow the activities that involve going outdoors.)
The website of Astronomy magazine has a lot of articles you can read to educate yourself about astronomy and share your knowledge with your children.

 With stargazing apps, it is possible to learn the constellations without stepping out. These apps can generate a star map for a given date, time, and viewing location. They even allow you to hold up your device at any direction to help you identify the constellations and heavenly bodies visible there. Actually, this feature of these apps work even if the sky is not visible, such as when it is cloudy or when you are indoors. Some of these apps also give information about the mythology about the heavenly bodies. Reviews about the most popjular stargazing apps can be found here.


Finally, did you know that you and your kids can help professional astronomers with their scientific research? The Zooniverse.org website contains thousands of projects in astronomy (and other disciplines as well) where you can help scientists by doing simple tasks like looking for asteroids in inages captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, for example.

With all these resources, you and your kids can get ready for that time when we can all go out and enjoy a clear night sky studded with stars. We must get ourselves ready for that time. For it will come.

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