Impact Earth

A Catalyst article about giant asteroids. Astronomers say that, one day, a giant rock from space will collide with the Earth and cause mass devastation. This could lead to the extinction of many species, including humans. The article looks at what can be done to prepare for such an impact and what happened when a...

Lucie Green - Astronomer

A Catalyst article describing Lucie Green's work as an astronomer and broadcaster on the Sky at Night programme. The article looks at her education and research career together with information on her work outside of broadcasting.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 19, Issue...

Is There Anybody Out There?

A Catalyst article about the Kepler spacecraft, which is used to look for extra-solar planets. Scientists are hoping to shine light on the age old question of life’s existence elsewhere in the Universe using a new space-based telescope named Kepler. Launched on 6 March 2009, Kepler is searching the sky for small,...

Out of this World

Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the S unit called ‘Cars on the move’. This D unit provided enough material for eight double periods during a Further Science course and built on the content of the S units for Single Science. 

The teachers’ guide included 15 worksheets to supplement the...

Rockets and Momentum

Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the B unit called ‘Machines and engines’ and the S unit called ‘Fuels’. This S unit provided enough material for eight double periods during a single-certificate science course. The teachers’ guide included seven worksheets to supplement the students’ booklet...

Rocket Images and Video

NASA's Space Shuttle may be a well-known launch vehicle, but the majority of launches still take place using rockets. These regularly carry satellites into orbit. These materials show images of rockets, such as the Saturn V which powered the Apollo missions and current Delta and Atlas rockets. There is also a...

Space Shuttle Mission Images

The space shuttle has been used by NASA as a re-usable orbiter since 1981. The programme's last flight is scheduled for 2011. These resources show all stages of a mission, from launch to landing. It includes a video of the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis.

Stars, Nebulae, Galaxies

NASA has been responsible for some fantastic images of space, especially from the Hubble Space Telescope. These are a few of the images of stars, nebulae and galaxies. More images are available from the  NASA website

Solar System Scale Model

From NASA, this activity helps students see the relative distances from the sun of the planets in our solar system. Astronomers refer to the distance from the sun to the Earth as one 'astronomical unit' or AU. This activity demonstrates an easy way to calculate the distances of the other planets from the sun and...

Solar System: Images of Individual Planets

From NASA, these high resolution images show separately the planets of our solar system. Images in this resource include: Sun, Earth, Moon, Mars, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto.