NASA Overview Resources

• NASA’s Home Page
• NASA Informal Education Features and News Website
  This site lists NASA’s informal education products and programs, and provides a basic description of the informal education program of the agency.
• NASA’s Education Web Site
• Science @NASA
  Earth and Space stories, updated daily. This site features concise stories with references, written in layman’s language. Stories are archived and searchable. A great place to start looking for content. Check out the satellite tracking for fun. (There are more Space stories than Earth.)
• Science Bulletins
  Science Bulletins present changes in the fields of biodiversity, Earth science, and astronomy through short video documentaries, interactive media, and articles. Feature stories introduce scientists working at the forefront of their fields. Visualizations provide unique views of the Earth and our universe. And weekly news tracks recent discoveries and natural events as they unfold. Many bulletins include classroom educational resources as well. View Archives
  Specifically for Children
• Space Place
  Not many sites about space science and technology are written specifically for kids. This one is, and does not link out to other sites that are not written for kids. This is a wonderful site for ideas, grabbers, animations, descriptions and games. This is a fun resource for those wishing to bring science into programming for children.

NASA Resources About Our Planet

Yes, NASA does study Earth! And what an amazing array of science and technology is used by the Space agency to better understand what makes our own planet work. NASA’s Earth science research includes such topics as global climate change, deforestation, volcanology, coastal morphology change, changes in coral reefs, El Nino and La Nina, urban growth, hurricane prediction, forest fires, ozone pollution, the ozone hole, and on and on. If it is on the planet, NASA probably is studying it in some way!

All of NASA’s Earth science research broadly fits under the umbrella of five major research questions:

• How is the global Earth system changing?
• What are the primary causes of change in the Earth System?
• How does the Earth system respond to natural and human-induced changes?
• What are the consequences of change in the Earth systems for human civilization?
• How can we predict future changes in the Earth system?

Within these broad categories of research, a great deal of work has and is being done. Below are some resources that we hope will help you to locate information and images that can support your efforts in interpretation. Enjoy!

Where to Find Stunning Images of Earth from Space

All images are FREE of cost and carry no copyright.
NASA simply requests that users give proper attribution.

• NASA’s Earth science home page
• Visible Earth
  This site is a treasure trove for interpreters needing illustrations of global or regional scale phenomena such as ozone hole, volcanic activity, hurricanes, el nino, etc. This archive of beautiful Earth imagery is arranged by topics, and updated constantly. Each image has an explanation, and many are linked to stories in the news or on the Earth Observatory web site (see below).
• Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS)
  If you are looking for a zoom into Earth or out from it, this is the place to go (click on “great zooms”). The SVS creates an amazing array of images and animations using satellite and other data to illustrate research done by NASA. Searchable by keyword, many images and movies have text, and some are linked to science stories. View Archives
• Earth as Art
  Originally designed as a celebration of 30 years of successful Landsat data collections, but has expanded to include other Earth observing satellites. This collection of stunning images chosen purely for aesthetic purposes has proven to have broad appeal with the general public.
• EarthShots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change
  This site presents a series of case studies of environmental change illustrated through satellite images. Articles provide excellent explanation of the imager, and references for further reading. Examples include urban growth of Las Vegas, NV, phosphate mines near Orlando FL, Great Salt Lake high water levels in the 1980s, Mt St. Helens, and Hubbard Glacier.
• Planetary Photojournal
  Lists images and information by planet. Go to Earth to find an array of imagery on hurricanes, volcanoes, cities, ozone, etc. Each image has a descriptive text. You can search by feature (volcano for example) on the Detailed Query Page. This is a large site with much to explore. 
• The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
  The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth. A clickable map provides access to an enormous archive of astronaut photos. A selected group of the best photos may be accessed at Earth from Space HYPERLINK "http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/" http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/ Good information on each image is provided, as well as links for how to get higher resolution images, transforming images, saving, color adjusting, etc.
• NASA Image Exchange
  A somewhat searchable data base of images from space. Includes satellite images, astronaut photos of Earth, photos of NASA space craft, etc. For Earth views go to “Solar system and beyond” then click on “Earth.” Use the “more details” to get information about the images, and your own copy of a jpeg or tiff image.
• USGS Landsat Image Gallery
  Nice browsable collection of an array of images of Earth features, including volcanoes, floods, cities and more.

Read the Latest About Our Own Planet at these sites:

• Earth Observatory
  Outstanding website with loads of relevant, up to date articles in layman’s language about NASA Earth science research. Articles on fire, invasive species, air quality, water quality, geology, global climate change, forest ecology, urban growth, urban heat islands, hurricanes, flood, drought. Any and all materials published on the Earth Observatory are freely available for re-publication or re-use, except where copyright is indicated. We ask that NASA’s Earth Observatory be given credit for its original materials. The free subscription option provides a short e-mail message letting you know what’s new each week.
• Goddard Space Flight Center
  Goddard is NASA’s lead center for Earth Science, and this site is an excellent source of weekly news about Earth science research of interest to all; archives of news stories include many images, animations and visualizations. One fun item is the Science Question of the week—you can read answers to past questions, or try to guess the answer to this week’s. An archive lists questions from previous years.

Earth Science Curriculum-based Education

• NASA Peer-reviewed Education Products
  NASA's Earth Science Education Program offers a diverse array of programs and resources for formal classroom instruction, informal education, and professional and workforce development. The complete listing of Earth Science education programs, products and resources, along with NASA-wide resources for educators, is provided in this online catalog.
• Earth Science Education Update
  The Earth Science Education Update is a free monthly email newsletter describing the latest news, programs, events, grants, and resources related to NASA's Earth science education program. It also includes items about related Earth system science education news from other agencies and organizations. The newsletter is embedded in the e-mail text, and contains no graphics, so it does not clog email systems. Visit this site to see past issues or get your free subscription.
• The Earth Science Educator
  The Earth Science Educator is the educational portal site of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Earth-Sun Exploration Division. It contains hundreds of teaching and learning resources and provides teachers and students with quick access to a set of rich and scientifically-oriented educational resources on a wide range of Earth Science research activities. The site is an annotated searchable links directory and a web crawler search engine.
• Landsat
  Landsat satellites have been observing Earth for over thirty years. This valuable archive of data allows us to view and analyze causes and consequences of human and natural caused landscape-scale change over time. The website features images, tutorials, science and educational materials.

NASA SPACE SCIENCE: An Introduction

Thousands of years ago, on a small rocky planet orbiting a modest star in an ordinary spiral galaxy, our remote ancestors looked up and wondered about their place between Earth and sky. Today, we ask the same profound questions:

• How did the universe begin and evolve?
• How did we get here?
• Where are we going?
• Are we alone?

After only the blink of an eye in cosmic time, we are beginning to answer these questions. Looking for images and resources to help explore some of these questions? These links provide a good place to explore space science starting with a closer look at the Sun, planets, stars, and galaxies.

• Sun-Earth Connection
  This site is an excellent learning resource and an engaging way to learn about Sun Watching today and over time. Take a closer look at the Public Outreach section for ideas and resources. The multi-media section contains an extensive collection of solar images--everything from print materials and presentations to Flash animations and webcasts. This site is also an excellent place to learn about cultural connections to the Sun in the Southwestern US and Mesoamerica.
• SOHO
  This site contains a dynamic collection of images of the Sun, including daily solar data collected by different SOHO instruments. The Resources section contains breaking news releases, activities and resources for working with the public as well as “free stuff.” It’s well worth taking a look at!
• Solar Data Analysis Center
  This is one more place to check out the latest images of the Sun from numerous NASA spacecrafts as well as ground-based observatories.
• Space Weather
  Catch up on the latest news and information about the Sun-Earth Environment. Sunspots on the increase? Solar storms brewing? Here’s one place to get more information.
• Astronomical Search for Origins and Planetary Systems
  The Informal Education Resource Center provides easy access to materials for your programs, exhibits and educational materials. This site contains extensive links to other resources too.
• NASA Astrobiology Institute
  Astrobiology is the study of life in the Universe. It's a new and exciting field of research that covers the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life -- wherever it might exist. Both these sites are rich resources for learning about astrobiology, NASA’s exploration of life in extreme environments on earth, and its search for life in the extreme environments of space.
• Solar System Exploration
  This is a robust site and a gateway to NASA missions that focus on exploring the solar system. The multimedia section includes an extensive collection of images with helpful annotations and the Educators’ section contains resources for informal educators as well as educators working in a classroom setting.
• NASA's Planetary Photojournal
  The Photojournal is a comprehensive image site—This is the place if you are looking for space images along with explanatory captions. It is kept up-to-date with the latest events and happenings.
• Welcome to the Planets
  Try this for another collection of images from NASA’s planetary exploration programs.
• The Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
  The Cassini Mission has sent back amazing images of Saturn, its icy rings and intriguing moons. This extensive site has resources for informal educators and classroom educators. The images gallery is ever-changing and contains some of the most beautiful images of the ringed planet.
• Mars Exploration
  This site provides an in depth look at the Mars Exploration Program. It contains a very complete image gallery for browsing as well as extensive videos for viewing.
• Hubble Space Telescope
  Explore this site for the latest and best from the Hubble Space Telescope. At the NewsCenter you can view cosmic images, browse the archive by date, subject or release type; and sign up for e-mail bulletins. All those beautiful Hubble images you’ve seen are available here.
• Astronomy Picture of the Day
  You’ll find daily astronomical images from a very wide variety of sources as well as an extensive archive that is easily searchable. Check this on a regular basis for truly amazing images of space.