BRIEF ASTRONOMY VIDEOS

BRIEF ASTRONOMY VIDEOS

Brief Astronomy Videos

For Use with Each Chapter of OpenStax Astronomy

A List by Senior Author, Andrew Fraknoi Mar. 12, 2020

Note: This listing includes a wide range of short videos (15 minutes or less) that can be used in introductory astronomy courses. It is organized by the chapter topics in the OpenStax Astronomy textbook. We don't include simulations. To suggest other video that you have found particularly useful for Astro 101 courses, please drop a line to the compiler at: fraknoi@fhda.edu

* = either from a government agency (should be copyright free) or with CCC-by License

Chapter 1: Science and the Universe

Scientific Notation: (3 min, PBS, 2014) Cartoon explaining how scientific notation works and why it's useful:

Explaining Scientific Notation (6 min, Open University, 2014) A well-organized British introduction to the way scientists write large and small numbers:

* How Big is Space? (2 min, NASA, 2019) Shows the length of light-time units, from a lightsecond to hundreds of thousands of light years:

Wanderers (4 min, Erik Wernquist, 2015) A tour of the solar system with words by Carl Sagan, imagining other worlds with dramatically realistic paintings:

Powers of Ten (9 min, Eames Office, 1977) Classic short tour of the physical universe, narrated by physicist Philip Morrison:

The Known Universe (6 min, American Museum of Natural History, 2009): a modern tour of the universe, with realistic animation, music, and captions:

* ALMA is a Time Machine (2 min, ESO, 2018) ESOCast #135; cartoon explaining how the delay in the travel of light through the universe allows astronomers to look into the past:

Science as a Way of Thinking: Interview with Carl Sagan (9 min, The Inspiration Journey, date unknown) A discussion with Sagan about the scientific method and the danger of not training young people to think critically, with images and music:

Chapter 2: Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy

* Apollo 15 Hammer and Feather Drop (2 min, NASA, 1971) Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott took a hammer and feather to the Moon and dropped them in a vacuum to show Galileo was right:

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Difference between geocentrism and heliocentrism (ongoing animation showing planet orbits in each model):

Excerpt on Erathosthenes and his measurement of the Earth from the Cosmos TV series with Carl Sagan (6 min, PBS, 1979):

Mini-biography of Galileo (3 min, Biography, 2013) with pictures and interviews with astronomers Laura Danly and Amy Mainzer:

Derren Brown on Astrology (8-min, excerpt from British TV "Trick of the Mind", 2007) Magician and skeptic Brown cleverly exposes astrology as a pseudo-science: )

Astrology Debunked (9 min, Enemies of Reason, 2008) A segment of a TV show where Richard Dawkins discusses astrology versus astronomy and gives reasons why astrology is just an ancient superstition:

Astrology Debunked (9 min, uncredited, 1979-2015) This compilation video includes commentary by Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Dawkins, and the Amazing Randi, looking skeptically at astrology:

Chapter 3: Orbits and Gravity

* Solar System Dynamics: Orbits and Kepler's Laws (7 min, NASA, 2010) Nice discussion of Kepler's career, and how he came up with the laws of planetary motion ? which are demonstrated:

Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Planetary Motion (14 min, German TV, 2013) A summary of the history in English:

Isaac Newton rap battles Bill Nye (3 min, Epic Rap Battles of History, 2014):

Richard Feynman on the Discovery of Neptune (5 min, b&w Cornell lecture, 1964):

* How You Wash Hair in Space (3 min, NASA, 2013) Astronaut Karen Nyberg demonstrates how she washes her hair in free-fall aboard the International Space Station:

* Space Station Assembly Animation (3 min, NASA, 2011) Shows how the parts of the International Space Station got put together; with a timeline:

Conservation of Angular Momentum (5 min, U of Nebraska, 2016) Explores angular momentum with discussion and a number of good classroom demonstrations:

Precession of Earth (3 min, U of Nebraska, 2013) Nice demonstration of the precession of a spinning ball, then related to the precession of the Earth's axis over the millennia:

Chapter 4: Earth, Moon, and Sky

Bill Nye, the Science Guy Explains the Seasons (5 min, from his old TV show) For kids, but college students can enjoy the bad jokes too:

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* The Seasons in 12 Seconds (12 sec, NASA, 2011) Compresses the turning of the Earth over a year into 12 seconds, showing from geosynchronous orbit how the terminator changes from equinoxes to solstices:

* Lunations (5 min, NASA, 2018) Sped-up video of the Moon and its phases over the course of a year, with a lot of information: (for a full user guide, see: )

Exploratorium Videos on Observing Eclipses Safely (a series of short videos with how-to instructions:

Geography Lesson on the Arrangement and History of Time Zones (3 min, TWIG, 2012):

* Shadow of the Moon (2 min, NASA Goddard, 2015) Explains eclipses of the Sun, with discussion and animation, and showing what an eclipse looks like from space):

Strangest Time Zones in the World: A History of Time Zones and Examples of Places that Keep Their Own Time (9 min, WonderWhy, 2014):

Understanding Lunar Eclipses (2 min, LRO/NASA Goddard, 2014) Explains the reason why there isn't an eclipse every month, with good animation:

How to Observe a Lunar Eclipse (5 min, California Academy of Sciences) Animated, narrated introduction to what these eclipses are and what you can see and appreciate during one:

Chapter 5: Radiation and Spectra

* NASA has a 2010 series of useful short videos, called "Tours of the Electro-magnetic Spectrum," which focus on one band of the spectrum each, looking at both its terrestrial and astronomical aspects:

1) Introduction and overview (5 min): 2) Radio Waves (4 min): 3) Microwaves (3 min): 4) Infrared (5 min): 5) Visible Light (5 min): 6) Ultraviolet Waves (4 min): 7) X-rays (3 min): 8) Gamma-rays (4 min): * Unweaving the Rainbow (6 min, ESA/Hubble, 2012) HubbleCast 59: An explanation of how

astronomers use spectra, particularly with the Hubble, but also in general: * Seeing the Invisible (9 min, IAU/ESA/Hubble, 2008) HubbleCast #23: An introduction to the non-visible bands of the electro-magnetic spectrum, to the telescopes that allow us to detect them, and what objects are prominent: * Infrared: More Than Your Eyes Can See (7 min, Spitzer/NASA, 2008) A lively introduction, with astronomer Michelle Thaller, to infrared radiation, its applications on Earth and in astronomy:

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum (5 min, Institute of Physics, 2012) Introduction to the bands of the spectrum, the telescopes that lets us observe them, and what celestial phenomena we can see in each band:

Blackbody Radiation (5 min, U. of Nebraska, 2014) A student-made video with useful discussion and demonstrations about the properties of blackbodies and spectra:

How a Prism Works (3min, RimStar, 2013) Short video by an amateur scientist on how a prism bends light to make a rainbow of colors:

* The Doppler Effect (5 min, ESA, 2014) Features a Doppler ball to demonstrate the effect and the motion of satellites:

Chapter 6: Astronomical Instruments

* The History of Telescopes: In these two episodes of the HubbleCast from ESA, host Dr. Joe Liske takes viewers on a good-natured tour of telescopes, how they work, and how they evolved over the years: 1) New Views of the Skies (13 min, 2008): and 2) Bigger is Better (10 min, 2008):

* Flexible Giants: The Evolution of Telescope Mirrors (8 min, ESO, 2014) ESOCast #63: On the recent history of large telescope mirrors and observatories, focusing on ESO's instruments:

* Day in the Life of an ESO Astronomer (6 min, ESO, 2009) ESOCast #4: What it's like to observe with a large telescope in our modern era:

Keck Observatory (6 min, National Academies of Science, etc., 2011) A silent film about the Keck telescopes and the work being done there, nice footage:

* The European Southern Observatory (3 min, ESO, 2016) An introduction to ESO (with music and captions), its observatory locations, and its telescopes:

* Catching Starlight (4 min, ESO, 2017) ESOCast #112 : A history of astronomical sensors (detectors) with a nice explanation of CCDs:

* Catching Light (11 min, ESO, 2012) ESOCast #46: A dramatic introduction to modern telescopes, detectors, and spectrographs, made on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of ESO:

* How to Stop a Star's Twinkle (9 min, ESO, 2011) ESOCast #34: On the adaptive optics technique for getting better resolution, focusing on a laser guide-star instrument being developed in Europe:

* Seeing the Invisible (9 min, IAU/ESA/Hubble, 2008) HubbleCast #23: An introduction to the non-visible bands of the electro-magnetic spectrum, to the telescopes that allow us to detect them, and what objects are prominent:

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