Astronomy Day was, at one time, a once-a-year event. It’s since grown into a twice-yearly observance in April and October for the purpose of viewing the night sky as it is seen in both summer and winter. This year’s Astronomy Days fall on April 20th and October 12th, and provide an excellent opportunity to teach your kids while giving them plenty of reasons to have fun as they learn. We’ve got a list of fun mobile applications and websites for families that pair well with the theme of Astronomy Day. [photo via freedigitalphotos]
Go straight to the source for trusted information regarding astronomy and the solar system. Here, you will find the latest news reports and videos on recent discoveries. What’s more is that there are two special sections families can look at including Public and Students. Both sections provide relevant and exciting information that will engage your children in an educational setting. Kids will have fun learning about the planets, aerial phenomena, space weather, and more. The youngest kids will also want to check out NASA Kids Club for cool games and fun photos. This site includes “Elmo Visits NASA” and “Buzz Lightyear Returns From Space.”
This site lets you explore the night sky as seen all over Earth It uses GPS, compass data, date, and time to help show an accurate map of the sky with a detailed look at the area that is being observed. This handy and useful site will encourage the whole family to get out more and look at the night sky throughout the year–and a more advanced version is available for Android phones.
This cool app is similar to Google Sky Maps as it is used for exploring the night sky, however this particular app (which was designed for iPhones and iPads) allows you to explore the sky with your phone and Star Chart and will tell you exactly what you are looking at. This device uses GPS technology and 3D Universe to calculate immediate locations of stars and planets. It also shows the locations of the stars and planets during daylight hours. It is a handy app that the whole family will enjoy using.
