Conservation of Momentum

These short video clips, from Our Space, show Richard Garriott during his mission to the...

Venus Express

A Catalyst article about the European Space Agency (ESA) which has sent the Venus Express spacecraft to explore Earth's cloudy neighbour. The purpose of the project, which is primarily to gather information about the atmosphere around Venus, is explained and is put into context with concerns about climate change on...

Astronomy - Careers

This Catalyst article investigates possible careers in astronomy and space science. It provides some information on a number of academic courses leading to an exciting career in astronomy; the article also lists places to visit for those with general interest in astronomy.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE...

Journey into Inner Space

A Catalyst article about physicists working at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider who hope to have received the first results from what is probably the biggest, most expensive and most ambitious scientific experiment ever carried out. Later, they hope to solve the mystery of the fundamental forces of nature.

The...

Hubble Explores a Barred Spiral Galaxy

A Catalyst article about the Hubble telescope exploring a barred spiral galaxy, known as NGC1672 in the astronomers’ New General Catalogue. The image was made by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and was released in April 2007. NGC 1672 is situated 60 million light years away, in the constellation of Dorado. The...

Designs on Space: the Lifecycle of a Satellite

A Catalyst article about designing, building and testing a spacecraft. There are thousands of man-made satellites orbiting the Earth. Some are only a few hundred kilometres above the Earth and complete one orbit roughly every 90 minutes. Geostationary satellites are located around 40 000 kilometres from the surface...

Explore Your Universe: Atoms to Astrophysics Handbook and School Activities

Explore Your Universe is a partnership between the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The vision for the project is to inspire a new sense of excitement amongst young people and their families through telling the amazing stories and...

Explore the Future

This activity pack, aimed at children aged 5-11, contains a range of different activities based on the theme “Explore the future”. The activities cover a mixture of topics including; including: Earth and Space, food, the water cycle, forces, magnets, energy and the environment.

Designed either for use in...

I Wouldn’t Send a Dog Out on a Night Like This!

In this resource, students attempt to apply their understanding of heat transfer (convection, conduction and radiation) to the novel case of the Beagle 2 Lander.

Students are set the challenge of creating the best...

Weathering on the Earth and Moon

The loose fragments of material on the Moon’s surface are called regolith. This regolith, a product of bombardment by meteorites, is the debris thrown out of the impact craters. By contrast, regolith on Earth (called ‘soil’ as it contains organic material) is a product of weathering. ‘Weathering’ describes all the...