The transit of Venus is a rare astronomical event that has been well documented throughout history. The most recent transit occurred in June of 2004, and the one before that took place more than 100 years earlier in 1882. This site from the South African Astronomical Observatory provides information and first-hand observations of the 1882 event from Wellington, South Africa. Just prior to the event, an observatory was erected at the Huguenot Seminary for girls, and some of the historical observations made from that site in 1882 are provided here for your perusal.

This movie shows a total eclipse of the Sun which occurred in 1994. It is accompanied by a link to a written description of the Sun's physical characteristics.

This page hosts a collection of geometric tasks in pdf format that are aligned to the CCSS standards 1.G1 through 1.G3. It also has links to supplementary literature and learning materials.

In this multi-part activity, students study seismograms from 3 different seismic stations recording the magnitude 9.0 Sumatra earthquake of December 26th, 2004. By comparing the arrival times of the P and S waves on each seismogram, students determine the distance from the epicenter to each station. Using that data, they can accurately map the location of the epicenter and the precise time of the earthquake. After locating the epicenter, students calculate the position of the tsunami generated by the quake at one hour intervals. From those determinations, predictions are made about how much time people had before the tsunami crashed onto their shores. Finally, students investigate some of the ways people can lessen the impact of the next great tsunami.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This resource contains presentations from the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) 2014 Management Briefing Seminars held August 4-7, 2014. With attendees from industry, government, media, and academia, the event featured outstanding presentations from industry thought leaders as well as various networking and social events. Using CAR research as a foundation, these seminars revolved around the most important issues facing the automotive industry today: manufacturing, powertrain, sales forecasting, connected and automated vehicles, purchasing, talent, and supply chain.

This resource contains a presentation from a webinar and video of the webinar regarding a study carried out by Ducker Worldwide and funded by The Aluminum Association to evaluate the aluminum content in 2015 model year vehicles and the projected aluminum content growth through 2025. Also included is the executive summary of the study.

This NASA page is an image set illustrating the 20g centrifuge at the Ames Research Center. The photographs include two of human subjects strapped in the place at one end of the centrifuge arm.

This page hosts a collection of geometric tasks in pdf format that are aligned to the CCSS standards 2.G1 through 2.G3. It also has links to supplementary literature and learning materials.

These zipped documents from MatEd provide information on designing a course on 3 Dimensional Digital Laser Scanning Fundamentals. At the end of the course, students will be able to identify applications for 3 dimensional digital laser scanning, operate a NextEngine brand 3 dimensional digital laser scanner, and have proposed a project to reinforce these concepts. The documents include a draft syllabus, contact information for the author of the course, a sample new course proposal form, and a course outline.

This page hosts a collection of geometric tasks in pdf format that are aligned to the CCSS standards 3.G1 and 3.G2. It also has links to supplementary literature and learning materials.

This page hosts a collection of geometric tasks in pdf format that are aligned to the CCSS standards 4.G1 through 4.G3. It also has links to supplementary literature and learning materials.

In 1953, Gottfried Moellenstedt invented the electron biprism, more or less by accident, with the serendipity characteristic to him: Aiming at dark-field imaging in an electron microscope, he stretched a thin tungsten wire across the objective aperture to block off the zero beam. However, instead of a dark field image, because of inadvertent charging of the wire under the beam, he found two images of the ZnO-needles serving as an object. Instead of trying the dark field imaging over and over again, he asked what the effect would be if the obtained two images were superimposed. Is coherence given? Moellenstedt, educated by Walther Kossel in diffraction of electron waves, had a vision: Together with his PhD-student Heinrich Dueker, he developed the electron biprism, consisting of a 1 micron m thin wire deliberately chargeable by means of a voltage source, as a beam splitter for coherent superposition of the electron waves passing the filament on the right and on the left. In 1955 they published the first results showing biprism interference fringes [G. Moellenstedt and H. Dueker, Naturwiss. 42, 41 (1955)], which, since then, gave access to the understanding of electron waves and their use for analysis of object structures up to atomic dimensions. Target Audience: 2-4 Year College Faculty/Administrators

This page hosts a collection of geometric tasks in pdf format that are aligned to the CCSS standards 5.G1 through 5.G4. It also has links to supplementary literature and learning materials.

9th Grade Math Practice Questions to test addition, multiplication, word-problem skills, and basic algebraic skills. Includes answers and explanations. From the Proficiency Building Activities of the NASA Lewis Research Center K-12 Program.

This tutorial explains some of the techniques developed by astronomers to determine the distances of objects we see in the sky. Links to additional information are embedded in the text.

This Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a test in which a small satellite was tethered to the Space Shuttle in 1992. Numerous wide-ranging links provide further information.

This Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) image shows a laboratory test of the ion drive engine used to propel the Deep Space 1 exploratory probe across the solar system in 1998. The site includes a description of how the device works and provides links for related information.

This APOD page features the first confirmed image of an extrasolar planet orbiting a sun-like star. Text and numerous links provide additional information; one link goes to the press release of the confirmation.

This Astronomy Picture of the Day depicts the Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The image was taken from the International Space Station. Links provide background information about Skylab, the Himalayas, and plate tectonics.

This Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the "dust flaps" that Apollo 17 astronauts jury-rigged on the lunar rover. The site describes the origin of lunar dust and provides links for further information.