Kepler > For Educators

For Educators

Here are items of interest to Educators—both formal and informal.

Kepler in a Nutshell—what the Kepler mission is about, in simple terms.

Kepler Speakers Bureau—to request a speaker from the Kepler team for an event you are planning.

	Put your name on board the Kepler spacecraft. Your name will be stored on a DVD and Kepler will carry it into space. Name in Space is an activity in association with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 .
	Download Kepler Star Wheel - a planisphere that you can use to find the location of the Kepler target field of view as well as naked eye stars known to have exoplanets visible from the northern hemisphere. This was created in support of the International Year of Astronomy 2009

General Information

Kepler Fact Sheet and Lithograph

(Handouts)

(Useful in public presentations)

Models and Simulations

Interactive web page: Planet Families Build-a-Solar System
LEGO Orrery model with light sensor light curve simulator	The Dierking transit detector model
Venus Transit Simulation (PlanetQuest) What if there were a civilization in another star system that had a Kepler-like mission to observe OUR solar system!
This animation requires flash plugin	Paper model of the Kepler spacecraft.

Educator's Links and Other Interactive Planet Detection Activities

Astro-Venture
An educational, interactive, multimedia Web environment where students in grades 5-8 role-play NASA occupations, as they search for and build a planet with the necessary characteristics for human habitation.
Celestia—an open source, real time and space simulation. Tour the solar system. As open source - objects can be added. Extrasolar systems could be added. Time element can be speeded up to observe planetary orbits, moons' orbits.
Kepler's Discovery website (http://www.keplersdiscovery.com) is an educational adventure into the concepts, thought processes and consequences of Kepler's discoveries. It provides an excellent supplement to secondary school and college classes on astronomy, mathematics and the history of science.
Planet Quest—The Search for Another Earth an overview of exoplanet search programs at JPL.

Pretty Pictures:

Click on this picture for higher resolution image of the Kepler spacecraft

Last Modified:
12 August, 2008