This page gathers astronomy education and outreach resources publicly available on the web. For peer-reviewed resources at school level we would like to draw your attention specifically to a project of the OAD’s Task Force on Children and Schools called AstroEDU.
The primary objective of the OAD is not to promote astronomy education or outreach but to use astronomy for development. The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach and the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education coordinate activities in astronomy outreach and education respectively.
Note: this information was originally compiled in 2015 and is updated infrequently to remove outdated links
Astronomy Clubs
Toolkit: A Guide to Starting a Physics Student Society
Quick Start Guide: Setting up an Astronomy Club
Learn Astronomy
Astronomy Textbook – A free, open source Introductory textbook to Astronomy from OpenStax
Astronomy timeline – A very concise history of Astronomy
Astronomy MOOCs – A list of open courses in Astronomy
Crash Course Astronomy videos – If you are new to Astronomy and short on time, these youtube videos offer a good start
Astronomy lectures – Videos of an Introduction to Astronomy course
Frontiers in Astrophysics – Video lectures from Yale university
Astronomy video – Introduction to Astronomy videos from Starship Asterisk forum
Solar System Astronomy – An introduction to solar system Astronomy by Ohio state (lectures, audio)
Astronomy notes – Introduction to Astronomy notes, recorded lectures, and practice tests from University of Northern Iowa
Intech open Science – Free, Open Access Books in Physical Sciences, Engineering, Technology etc
Inclusive Astronomy
Tactile Universe – Making current astronomy research accessible to the blind and vision impaired community
Webcasts, broadcasts and podcasts
STScI webcasts – Webcasts from Space Telescope Science Institute. (scroll down to the bottom of the page to choose category- outreach public lectures, Science training, Engineering workshops etc)
Slooh – Watch major Astronomical events live
Astronomy Cast, Cosmoquest– weekly discussions on astronomical topics ranging from planets to cosmology
DIY and Interactive tools
AstroEdu – An open-access platform for peer-reviewed astronomy education activities
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics – computer simulations and activities to make complex or abstract scientific ideas clearer and more accessible
Toys from trash – create useful tools and educational toys from trash
Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project (NAAP) – online laboratories targeting the undergraduate introductory astronomy audience
Astronomy simulations – A variety of simulators and calculators that demonstrate Astronomy concepts
Astronomy interactives – manipulate parameters and gain a better understanding of Astronomy topics
Astronomy tools and data
South African Astronomical Observatory – A list of Virtual Observatory-compatible applications, tools and data archives to do science – online data archives, data discovery, analysis, and plotting tools
Mitaka 4-dimensional digital universe – Software to visualize the known Universe with up-to-date observational data and theoretical models, by National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) [With Mutiple Language Support]
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) – A Digital Library portal for researchers in Astronomy and Physics
Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) – electronic integration of astronomy data, tools, and services to the global community
SkyView – A Virtual Observatory on the Net generating images of any part of the sky at wavelengths in all regimes from Radio to Gamma-Ray.
European Virtual Observatory (EURO-VO) – global electronic access to the available astronomical data archives of space and ground-based observatories and other sky survey databases. See also EURO-VO Educational Initiatives
Other Astronomy information
European Southern Observatory (ESO) – ESO has plenty of educational material, Astronomy communication resources, stunning pictures, videos etc
Universe Awareness (UNAWE) – Educational resources in Astronomy for young children
NASA education – Educator Guides, Lesson Plan/Activity, Play and Learn, Poster, Program Brochure etc
Telescopes
Galileoscope – A high quality, low cost telescope kit with observing guide.
Astronomy for beginners – A guide to amateur telescopes, and other useful information.
A guide to astrophotography – some tools and resources to help you get started.
TelescopeGuide – getting started with telescopes and astronomy.
Remote Telescopes
Access telescopes over the internet at No Cost
Optical:
NASA & Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics -MicroObservatory – You can operate your OWN ground-based “MicroObservatories” – real robotic telescopes – through this website.
Radio:
EU-Hands On Universe – This site provides remote access to small radio telescopes installed throughout Europe.
Radio Telescope:ARROW – A robotically directed receiver tuned to radio emission from hydrogen in the Milky Way. ARROW is A Robotic Radio-telescope Over the Web.
Virtual Sky simulators
Stellarium – A free open source planetarium for your computer that shows a realistic sky in 3D.
Planetarium – Explore the stars and planets from your web browser.
Microsoft World Wide Telescope – Enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best telescopes in the world.
Learn star gazing
BBC stargazing – A guide to star gazing
Sky & Telescope – More information on star gazing
Skymaps – A free, 2-page monthly guide to the night sky suitable for all sky watchers including newcomers to Astronomy.
Heavens Above – An online skychart that includes positions of satellites and the International Space Station
Databases
Astronomy Now – database from Astronomy Now
Citizen Science
Contribute to real Science
Zooniverse, Galaxy Zoo – popular citizen Science platforms
