The Pluto Files (Video)
Hear from one of the world's leading experts on Pluto, Alan Stern, about New Horizons—a spacecraft with seven scientific instruments that will be the first ever to arrive at Pluto after its nine and a half year journey in 2015.

History of the Universe (Interactive Slideshow)
Click through a time line, stretching from the big bang some 10 to 20 billion years ago, to the time 10¹⁰⁰ years in the future when even black holes, the last surviving remnants of the universe as we know it, will have disappeared.

Catalogue of the Cosmos (Interactive Slideshow)
Learn the difference between pulsars and quasars, antimatter and dark matter, brown dwarfs and white dwarfs, and many other extraterrestrial wonders.

Space Elevator (Multimedia)
Explore the revolutionary idea of physicist and visionary. Brad Edward: to build a 22,000-mile-high cable to transport cargo and people into space.

The Hunt for Micrometeorites (Lesson)
Collect and identify micrometeorites from space using a shower curtain liner, coffee filters, and other household items.

Curriculum Connections
Space, micrometeorites, space dust, sky dust, carbon balls

Standards
Grades 5-8
Standard A: Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry, Understanding about scientific inquiry
Standard D: Earth and Space Science: Earth in the solar system

Grades 9-12
Standard A: Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry, Understanding about scientific inquiry
Standard D: Earth and Space Science: The origin and evolution of the Earth system

The Asteroid That Hit L.A. (Lesson)
Try out some "what if" scenarios and determine just what would happen if an asteroid the size of the Rose Bowl hit the city of Los Angeles.

Curriculum Connections
Asteroids, Apophis, geophysics, impact energy, earthquake magnitude, craters, fireballs, debris fallout, air blasts

Standards
Grades 5-8
Standard A: Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry, Understanding about scientific inquiry
Standard B: Physical Science: Transfer of energy
Standard D: Earth and Space Science: Structure of the earth system, Earth's history, Earth in the solar system
Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Natural hazards, Risks and benefits

Grades 9-12
Standard A: Science as Inquiry: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry, Understanding about scientific inquiry
Standard B: Physical Science: Conservation of energy and increase in disorder
Standard D: Energy in the earth system, Geochemical cycles, The origin and evolution of the earth system, The origin and evolution of the universe
Standard F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Natural and human-induced hazards