See a Comet Flyby This Weekend & Try These Educational Activities!

"NASA/JPL Edu" <education@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:58:48 -0500



Title: See a Comet Flyby This Weekend & Related Educational Activities


															See a Comet Flyby This Weekend and Try These Related Educational Activities

															On December 16, comet 46P/Wirtanen will safely fly by Earth at a distance of only 7.2 million miles (11.7 million kilometers). From dark-sky locations on Earth, the comet will be visible to the unaided eye – shining brightest on Sunday but visible now through the next week or two. Look to the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation Taurus to spot it.

															Learn more about the comet and how to watch on the NASA Science website. Watch "What's Up for December 2018" to find out what else you can see in the sky this month.

															Related activities for educators and students:
															
														
																		Slideshow: What's That Space Rock? – Find out how to tell the difference between asteroids, comets, meteors, meteorites and other bodies in our solar system.
																	
																
																		Video: How Does NASA Spot a Near-Earth Asteroid? – Watch this one-minute video to find out how NASA spots and tracks asteroids that fly close to Earth.
																	
																
																		Video: Space Place in a Snap – The Solar System's Formation – Find out how our solar system formed and how it came to be the busy place it is today.
																	
																
																		Comet on a Stick (Grades 2-8) – Students build their own comet models using craft materials.
																	
																
																		Create a Comet With Dry Ice (Grades 2-5) – Build an icy model of a comet out of dry ice -- complete with shooting jets! -- as a demonstration for students.
																	
																
																		Art and the Cosmic Connection (Grades K-12) – Students use art to describe and recognize the geology on planetary surfaces.
																	
																
																		Planetary Poetry (Grades 2-12) – In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.
																	
																
																		Space School Musical (Grades 3-12) – Students join teenager Hannah on a trip through the solar system in this stellar musical about the planets, moons, asteroids and space.