Help your students become young astronomers with CESAR!

Primary and secondary school teachers from ESA’s Member States* can register their class for a unique 2-hour session of real hands-on astronomy at ESAC. The students will be guided by ESA scientists through a group activity during which they will be assigned a ‘mission’ within a space science theme that the teachers can choose at the time of registration (based on the students’ age and curriculum). To accomplish their mission, the students will have to answer questions, use imagery taken by the CESAR telescopes and other ESA space missions, analyse the data, and communicate their results. The teachers will be provided in advance with explanations and resources to prepare their students to the experience itself, including a videoconference with a scientist (if technically feasible at the school).

This is a series of classroom resources (teacher’s guide, student worksheets, background information, etc) on astronomical topics ranging from the Sun to the deep universe, based on astronomical data and images collected by the CESAR telescopes. These resources are available for download, and can be used by the teachers as a basis for their STEM lessons in the classroom.

During the year, ESA scientists and the CESAR team organise conferences and lectures to introduce astronomy and space science to teachers, provide hints and inspiration for the use of space in their lessons, and make them interact with real space experts.

Since August 2016, the Helios CESAR Solar Observatory operates daily, weather permitting, and provides images of the Sun every minute of the day. These images can be viewed directly online.