Royal Observatory Greenwich

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian of the World. These resources, designed for students aged from seven years up to post-16, contain astronomy based practical activities linked to the curriculum at each key stage.

  • Key stage 2 activities include moons, the Solar System, magnetism, shadows and the spinning Earth.
  • Key stage 3 activities have students plotting constellations, and learning about orbits, seasons and the formation of the solar system.
  • Key stage 4 activities get students to look at different wavelengths, exoplanets, gravity, the history of the universe, the life cycle of stars and Kepler’s Third Law.
  • At Post-16, topics include Doppler shift, nuclear fusion, the evolution of the universe, the Kármán line and the Hubble constant.

Most activities have some ideas and questions for class discussion to be carried out before the activity, and many include high-quality animated videos. Some activities require access to software or an internet connection.

Resources

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Time dilation by a black hole

Produced by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, this booklet introduces time dilation and the Schwarzschild radius of a black hole. Included is an online video that discusses what is inside a black hole and how light and time behave near one. Equations for time dilation and the Schwarzschild radius are introduced and...

Unusual orbits in the Andromeda galaxy

Produced by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, this uses understanding of Kepler’s third law and the Doppler equation guide a lesson on plotting and interpreting a velocity vs radius graph for the Andromeda galaxy. A brief overview of the lesson is provided for the teacher as well as key questions to ask students...

What’s the Universe made of?

Produced by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, this booklet introduces the concepts of dark matter and dark energy. Included is an online video that discusses how the Universe will end, including the role of dark matter and energy. The booklet describes the composition of the Universe, this is followed by questions...

When will the Sun become a red giant?

Produced by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, this booklet guides students to use Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence equation to determine when the Sun will become a red giant. Included is an online video that discusses how we can determine how old the Sun is. Details on the relationship between mass and energy in...

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