All Kepler Education Projects

Detecting Planet Transits is © 2007 by the Regents of the University of California and may be duplicated for non-profit education purposes.

Detecting Planet Transits (PDF-1.5 Mb 2008; for grades 6–8) This is part of the GEMS Space Science Sequence for grades 6–8 (Sessions 4.5 andf 4.6) published in 2008. Students model NASA's Kepler mission observations of planetary transits (a planet moving in front of a star) by standing in a circle with model star (light bulb) in the center, and observing, through rolled up paper viewing tubes, a marble planet orbiting the star.

Photo of Venus Transit (by Becky Lowder; click on image for bigger version):