Astronomy: January Sightings

2022

Curriculum Materials Center

David & Lorraine Cheng Library

William Paterson University

Just a few sightings

January's New Moon will be on the 2nd making it easier to see faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters with no moonlight to interfere.
The Quadrantids Meteor Shower with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak can be seen best in a dark location after midnight January 3-4.
Mercury will reach its greatest eastern elongation of 19.2 degrees from the sun so look for that planet low in the western sky at sunset on January 7th.
January 17th brings us the full moon known by early Native American Tribes as the Wolf Moon.

Resources for Lesson Planning in the PreK-12 Classroom

Web Sites:

Almanac: The month of January 2022: holidays, Fun facts, Folklore

Astronomy: Two stars will merge in 2022 and explode into red fury.

Digitalisopen astronomy curricula.

Elementary School Science: Stormy weather: A lesson plan about storms.

Geology.com: Astronomy and space classroom activities and lesson plans.

Go Astronomy: Astronomy events.

NASA: Eclipse website/calendar.

NASA For educators.

National Science Foundation: astronomy & Astrophysics classroom resources.

NEMA LEARN: Stormy fingerpainting.

Science Buddies; Astronomy lesson plans.

University of Colorado: Virtual Teaching resources.

Websites and APPS for Stargazing & Astronomy

Apps can be downloaded from Google Play on your phone or computer.

Google Earth

Sky Map

Stellarium

Skyview (Free Version)(App)

Star Tracker(App)

CMC Library Resources

Science Education Resources

Teaching Science Through Literature

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Mercury by Seymour Simon

Describes what is known about Mercury from photographs taken by Project Mariner.

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The Moon = La Luna by Elisa Peters

A brief introduction to the Earth's moon including moon landings and phases.

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A Big Mooncake

Reimagines the cycles of the moon as a mother bakes a Big Moon Cake and Little Star begins to nibble at it every night.

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Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors by Rosalind Mist

Discusses facts about non-planetary bodies in the solar system.

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Caroline's Comets: A True Story by Emily Arnold McCully

Caroline was the first woman to discover a comet and became the first woman officially employed as a scientist by the King of England.

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Space by Simon Holland

Describes the earth, sun, moon, planets of the solar system, and other outer space phenomena.

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Stargazing by Jen Wang

When Moon's family moves in next door to Christine's, Moon goes from unlikely friend to best friend and they make plans to enter the school talent show.

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