If you’ve ever done an astronomy unit with a class and been asked by a student to find a particular star on some picture, you probably got stuck. Well, now there’s an easy solution.

Sky Map allows you to type in the name of any star you want and this neat little site will locate it for you. You can zoom in and out so you can see the star’s position relative to other objects.

You can also click on any star on the map to find out more about it, whether you know the star’s name or not.

Many elementary classes have to study the solar system. How do you get across to them that compared to what we’re used to, much of the solar system is a truly weird and awesome place? Well, these old Soviet era photos of Venus ought to help a bit. The site gives background on the space probes that went to Venus and some really cool shots of the planet itself. There’s all sorts of possibilities for discussions, and research projects based around these photos.

Trying to explain the relative sizes of the planets is an extremely difficult thing to do. This very cool video at Google Videos does an excellent job of placing the various parts of the solar system (and well beyond) in perspective relative to each other. Now the only trouble is trying to make the students understand just how vast even the smallest planet is compared to themselves.