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Learning about space and watching the night sky are things I dearly love to do when the weather is nice and special events are happening! This page is dedicated to several articles, games, and resources about space so you can join in!

Posts are color coded:
RED = Parent Info
Yellow = Younger learners
Green = Independent learners
Blue = Everyone can enjoy!

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username: engaged
password: learning

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username: engaged
password: learning

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password: reading

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Slip on your space suit and fill in the blanks to create your own silly story.

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NASA encourages you to visit NASA Kids' Club and use its games and activities to inspire the next generation.

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Take this only-for-laughs quiz to find out where in the universe you should call home.

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Take this only-for-laughs quiz to find out where in the universe you should call home.

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ABCya! • Numerical Order | Putting Numbers in Order

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Numerical Order is a fun elementary computer activity for kids at home or school. Children practice number sequence by arranging numbers in ascending order.

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First of May

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In 2020, the forecast calls for the greatest number of Eta Aquariid meteors to fall before dawn on (or near) May 5. However, this shower has a rather broad maximum, so the day before or after may present just as many meteors. Unfortunately, the almost-full waxing gibbous moon will obtrude on the show during the expected peak mornings for this year's Eta Aquariid meteor shower. You might be better off viewing this shower in early May 2020, with no moon to ruin the production during the predawn hours on May 1, 2 and 3, 2020.

This shower favors the Southern Hemisphere, ranking as one of the finest showers of the year - in a year when no moon obscures the show. At mid-northern latitudes, these meteors don't fall so abundantly - and the early morning twilight interferes at northerly latitudes.
Why more Eta Aquariid meteors in the Southern Hemisphere? Halley's Comet is the source of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!
When and how should I watch the Eta Aquariids? The 2020 Eta Aquariid meteor shower is expected to produce the greatest number of meteors in the wee hours before dawn on May 5. However, the broad peak of the Eta Aquariid shower may present a similar showing of meteors during the predawn hours on May 4 and May 6, too. And in fact the shower extends much beyond these dates on either side. Writing for the International Meteor Organization on May 1, 2017, Robert Lunsford pointed out:

... There is no sharp peak for this shower, but rather a plateau of good rates that last approximately one week centered on May 6.

In general, the best time to watch these fast and often bright meteors is in the early morning hours, before the onset of morning twilight. Don't know when twilight begins in your part of the world? Try this link and remember to check the astronomical twilight box.

Moonlight will be much less intrusive in the first several days of May 2020, than on the expected peak morning of May 5, 2020. So you might have a better view of the Eta Aquariid shower during the predawn hours on May 1, 2 and 3, 2020. That's because the moon sets in the wee hours after midnight in early May, providing moon-free viewing in a predawn sky. Click here, remembering to check the moonrise and moonset box, to find out when the moon sets in your sky.

Give yourself at least an hour of viewing time for watching any meteor shower. Meteors tend to come in spurts that are interspersed by lulls. Also, it can take as long as 20 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark.

You need no special equipment to watch a meteor shower, but a little luck always helps. Meteor watching is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you catch a good number of them and sometimes you don't.

Radiant point of the Eta Aquariid shower. If you trace the paths of the Eta Aquariid meteors backward, they all seem to radiate from a certain point in front of the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer. This point on the sky's dome is called the radiant of the meteor shower, which nearly aligns with the faint star Eta Aquarii. Hence, this meteor shower is named in honor of this star.

Eta Aquarii is one of the four stars making up the Y-shaped Water Jar asterism in the northern part of Aquarius. If you can find the Water Jar in the constellation Aquarius, you've as good as located the radiant point for the Eta Aquariid meteors. The alignment of the radiant and the star is of course coincidental. Eta Aquarii is some 170 light-years away - trillons upon trillions of miles away - while the Eta Aquariid meteors burn up about 60 miles (100 km) above Earth's surface.

Meteor shower radiants are sometimes misunderstood by casual meteor-watchers. You don't need to know where they are to watch a meteor shower. That's because the meteors fly every which way across the sky, in front of numerous constellations. However, the higher a shower's radiant appears in your sky, the more meteors you're likely to see. For the Eta Aquariids, the radiant soars highest in the nighttime sky just before dawn. That's why you can expect to see the most meteors in the wee morning hours.

You can see some Eta Aquariid meteors in late evening, before the radiant rises into your sky. In fact, late evening is the best time to see earthgrazers, meteors that make exceptionally long streaks across your sky. As the radiant rises higher - that is, as the hours of the night tick away to dawn - you'll see shorter meteors, but more meteors.

No special equipment is needed to watch a meteor shower. Find a dark, open sky away from artificial lights, and sprawl out on a reclining lawn chair.

How many meteors should I expect to see? In a dark sky, especially at more southerly latitudes, the Eta Aquariids can produce up to 20 to 40 meteors per hour. From mid-northern latitudes, you might only see about 10 meteors per hour.

Halley's Comet is the source of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. Every year, our planet Earth crosses the orbital path of Halley's Comet in late April and May, so bits and pieces from this comet light up the nighttime as Eta Aquariid meteors. This shower is said to be active from April 19 to May 20, although Earth plows most deeply into this stream of comet debris around May 5 or 6.

The comet dust smashes into Earth's upper atmosphere at nearly 150,000 miles per hour (240,000 kilometers per hour). Roughly half of these swift-moving meteors leave persistent trains - ionized gas trails that glow for a few seconds after the meteor has passed.

Our planet also crosses the orbital path of Halley's Comet at the other end of the year, giving rise to the Orionid meteor shower, which is usually at its best in the predawn hours on or near October 21.

Bottom line: What's a good meteor shower for the Southern Hemisphere? It's usually the Eta Aquariid shower on the mornings of May 5 and 6. This year, 2019, the new moon on May 4 guarantees dark skies for this year's presentation.
EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2019

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All you need to know: Eta Aquariid meteors | EarthSky.org

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In 2020, the forecast calls for the greatest number of Eta Aquariid meteors to fall before dawn on (or near) May 5. However, this shower has a rather broad maximum, so the day before or after may present just as many meteors.

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Addition games - Galaxy Explorer! - math games Fun4theBrain

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Subtraction Games - Galaxy Explorer - Fun4theBrain Math Games

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subtraction games - Galaxy Explorer - math games Fun4theBrain

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Galaxy Explorer Multiplication Facts Game

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Galaxy Explorer Multiplication Facts Game

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Fun4theBrain Galaxy Explorer Multiplication Game

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Fun4theBrain is a FREE educational game site for kids of all ages. Self-grading math quizzes, a fun town of friendly monsters, and 100+ games!

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Division games - Galaxy Explorer! - math games Fun4theBrain

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April 16th to 25th

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The annual Lyrid meteor shower is active each year from about April 16 to 25. In 2020, we expect the shower to pick up beginning late at night on Sunday, April 19, 2020, probably peaking in the predawn hours on Wednesday, April 22. The follow morning (April 23) might be good too, if you're game. This shower comes after a months-long meteor drought that always falls between early January and April's Lyrid shower each year. There are no major meteor shower during those months, as you can see by looking at EarthSky's meteor shower guide. By April, many meteor-watchers are itching to get going! So - though they produce only 10 to 15 meteors per hour at their peak - the Lyrids are always welcome!

No matter where you are on Earth, the best time to watch is between midnight and dawn. You'll want to watch in a dark country sky. Keep reading to find some tips for watching the 2020 Lyrids.

Tip #1: Learn about this shower's radiant point. If you trace the paths of all the Lyrid meteors backward, they seem to radiate from the constellation Lyra the Harp, near the brilliant star Vega. This is only a chance alignment, for these meteors burn up in the atmosphere about 60 miles (100 km) up. Meanwhile, Vega lies trillions of times farther away at 25 light-years.

Yet it's from Vega's constellation Lyra that the Lyrid meteor shower takes its name.

All you need to know about a meteor shower's radiant point is its rising time. That's because the shower starts (for the most part) after the radiant rises. It's best (generally speaking) when the radiant is highest in the sky. Around the Lyrids' peak, Vega rises - in the northeast - around 9 to 10 p.m. local time (the time on your clock, from all Northern Hemisphere locations). It climbs upward through the night, is fairly high by midnight, and is highest just before dawn.

That doesn't mean you should rule out the late evening hours, though. Late evening might be the best time to catch an earthgrazer, which is a slow-moving and long-lasting meteor that travels horizontally across your sky.

Tip #2: Observe from the country, away from city lights.
Tip #3: Don't expect too much. A wise man once said:

Meteor showers are like fishing. You go. You enjoy the night air and maybe the company of friends. Sometimes you catch something.

Note for Southern Hemisphere observers: Because this shower's radiant point is so far north on the sky's dome, the star Vega rises only in the hours before dawn, for you. It'll be lower in the sky for you than for us farther north on Earth's globe, when dawn breaks. That's why you'll see fewer Lyrid meteors. Still, you might see some!

Here are some other cool facts about the Lyrids.

The Lyrids have been known to have outbursts. For example, in 1982, American observers saw an outburst of nearly 100 Lyrid meteors per hour. Japanese observers saw around 100 meteors per hour in 1945, and Greek observers saw that number in 1922. No Lyrid outburst is predicted for 2020, but you never know.

About a quarter of Lyrid meteors leave persistent trains. A meteor train is an ionized gas trail that glows for a few seconds after the meteor has passed.

The Lyrid meteor shower has the distinction of being among the oldest of known meteor showers. Records of this shower go back for some 2,700 years. The ancient Chinese are said to have observed the Lyrid meteors falling like rain in the year 687 B.C. That time period in ancient China, by the way, corresponds with what is called the Spring and Autumn Period (about 771 to 476 B.C.), which tradition associates with the Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius, one of the first to espouse the principle:

Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.

I wonder if Confucius saw any Lyrid meteors ... it's possible!

Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1) is the source of the Lyrid meteors. Every year, in late April, our planet Earth crosses the orbital path of this comet. We have no photos of it because its orbit around the sun is roughly 415 years. Comet Thatcher last visited the inner solar system in 1861, before the photographic process became widespread. This comet isn't expected to return until the year 2276.

Bits and pieces shed by this comet litter its orbit and bombard the Earth's upper atmosphere at 110,000 miles per hour (177,000 km/h). The vaporizing debris streaks the nighttime with medium-fast Lyrid meteors.

It's when Earth passes through an unusually thick clump of comet rubble that an elevated number of meteors can be seen.

Bottom line: The Lyrid meteor shower offers 10 to 15 (or so) meteors per hour at its peak on a moonless night. There will be little to no moon to spoil the show in 2020. We expect the shower to pick up beginning late at night on Sunday, April 19, 2020, probably peaking in the predawn hours on Wednesday, April 22. The follow morning (April 23) might be good too, if you're game.
EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2020

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how to watch the lyrid meteor shower 2020

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Lyrid meteor shower: All you need to know | EarthSky.org

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The annual Lyrid meteor shower is active each year from about April 16 to 25. In 2020, we expect the shower to pick up beginning late at night on Sunday, April 19, 2020, probably peaking in the predawn hours on Wednesday, April 22. The follow morning (April 23) might be good too, if you're game.