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D. Koch (NASA Ames Research Center)
Educational software on extrasolar planet detection has been developed for the upper elementary, high school and college freshman level. This software describes: the latest results in extrasolar planet detection; what conditions affect a habitable planet; different planetary search methods and the details of the proposed Kepler Mission to search for earth-size planets. The core of the software is an interactive detection simulator in which the student records simulated data, and then analyzes it to determine the planet’s orbit, temperature, size, mass and surface gravity. In addition, the student learns about stellar classification, temperatures, sizes and masses and the use of Kepler’s third law. History and geography are also included in a section about Kepler’s life and times.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a
s follows:
http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov