Open and Zero-cost Resources
- An OER Mashup: Astronomy Redesign
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (NASA)
“Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.” - Astronomy Projects at Zooinverse
Zooinverse hosts crowd-sourced research projects in astronomy, among many other subjects. - Cosmology and Astronomy (Khan Academy)
- Exploring Black Holes: General Relativity & Astrophysics (MIT OpenCourseWare)
“Study of physical effects in the vicinity of a black hole as a basis for understanding general relativity, astrophysics, and elements of cosmology.” - MERLOT Materials in Astronomy
- The Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project: Online Labs for Introductory Level Astronomy
“The Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project provides online laboratories targeting the undergraduate introductory astronomy audience. Each lab consists of background materials and one or more simulators that students use as they work through a student guide. Pretests and posttests can be used to gauge student learning.” - OER on Astronomy (OER Commons)
- PhET Astronomy Simulations
“PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. We extensively test and evaluate each simulation to ensure educational effectiveness. These tests include student interviews and observation of simulation use in classrooms. The simulations are written in HTML5 (with some legacy simulations in Java or Flash), and can be run online or downloaded to your computer. All simulations are open source.”
Freely Accessible Planetariums
- Google Sky
“Using Google Maps this tool provides an exciting way to browse and explore the universe. You can find the positions of the planets and constellations on the sky and even watching the birth of distant galaxies as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.” - Stellarium Web
Stellarium Web is “an online planetarium running in your web browser based on the open source Stellarium Web Engine project.” - SkyGazer
“View the sky from any place on Earth or in the Solar System, over a timespan of ten thousand years from the present.” Create sky charts and historic sky simulations, display realistic planet graphics and eclipses, and illustrate such concepts as the seasons of the year, among other possible demonstrations.
