Asteroid Activities
The lessons below are teacher-favorite lessons focused on asteroids. For more search options or to search by other science target, missions and other criteria, visit our Fast Lesson Finder. You can also search by curriculum standards on our popular Curriculum Standards Quilts.
Asteroids Lessons:
Vegetable Light Curves (More Discoveries)
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Asteroids
Mission: Dawn (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: In the activity, "Vegetable Light Curves," students will observe the surface of rotating potatoes to help them understand how astronomers can sometimes determine the shape of asteroids from variations in reflective brightness.
Vegetable Light Curves (Student Activity)
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Asteroids
Mission: Dawn (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: In the activity, "Vegetable Light Curves," students will observe the surface of rotating potatoes to help them understand how astronomers can sometimes determine the shape of asteroids from variations in reflective brightness.
Vegetable Light Curves (Teacher Guide)
Topic: Modeling Solar System Objects
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Asteroids
Mission: Dawn (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: In the activity, "Vegetable Light Curves," students will observe the surface of rotating potatoes to help them understand how astronomers can sometimes determine the shape of asteroids from variations in reflective brightness.
Vesta Flipbook
Grade Level: K-4
Body: Asteroids
Mission: Dawn (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: Animators build cartoons by flipping through a series of images over time. Make a flipbook using Vesta images to help you picture the asteroid spinning on its axis in orbit through space!
What is a Planet?
Grade Level: 9-12
Body: Our Solar System, Asteroids, Comets, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud
Mission: New Horizons (Dwarf Planets)
Short Description: Students learn about the characteristics of planets, comets, asteroids, and trans-Neptunian objects through a classification activity. Students can then apply what they have learned by participating in a formal debate about a solar system object discovered by the New Horizons spacecraft and by defining the term "planet."
