Learn About Constellations

These imaginary pictures in the sky have a lot of history and stories behind them. Explore these sites for more ...
http://www.constellation-guide.com/

www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/constellation-names-and-abbreviations/

www.wwu.edu/skywise/greekmyth.html

There is a LOT of stuff in space.

This is a real time model of thousands of satellites, space stations, and debris.

You can search for objects by their international designation:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/SpacecraftQuery.jsp

http://celestrak.com/satcat/search.asp

What if an asteroid hits the Earth?

This simulation shows the effects of asteroid impacts.
Change variables including mass and composition of the asteroid, where it lands, and how far you are from the impact site. http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/

Company Plans to Mine Asteroids

“I’m excited to be part of the Planetary Resources’ team working on extracting precious minerals from near-Earth asteroids. The only way to truly explore our Solar System is to develop the technology and means to sustain our presence in space without depleting resources of Earth.”

– Sir Richard Branson

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Spacecraft Returns Asteroid Artifacts From Space

Scientists involved with the first space mission attempting to sample asteroid surface material and return to Earth, have confirmed presence of particles collected from a small container aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa spacecraft.

The 510-kilogram (950-pound) Hayabusa spacecraft rendezvoused with asteroid Itokawa in September 2005. On Nov. 25 of that year, Hayabusa briefly touched down on the surface of Itokawa.
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NASA is Planning to Capture Part of an Asteroid

NASA is developing a first-ever robotic mission to visit a large near-Earth asteroid, collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface, and redirect it into a stable orbit around the moon. Once it’s there, astronauts will explore it and return with samples in the 2020s. This Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is part of NASA’s plan to advance the new technologies and spaceflight experience needed for a human mission to the Martian system in the 2030s.

Mission to the Asteroid Belt

NASA's mission to visit to two asteroids began in 2007. Learn how this ion-powered spacecraft is telling us about the birth of our solar system. DAWN Mission

3-D Model of the Milky Way Galaxy

This experiment by Google accurately models 100,000 stars in our galaxy.
You can click on individual stars to learn more about each one.
100,000 Stars

100 Year Starship

Can you imagine 100 years into the future? A working starship is the 100 year goal of this organization.

The Planetary Society

Exploration of the solar system is the goal of this non-profit organization.

Kepler Space Telescope

This telescope searches for planets outside our solar system.