Chrombook & ChromeOS

Google Classroom

Starry Night Web

LMS Integration

Any Platform, Anywhere
Totality

Lesson A5-1

Solar Eclipse
The Infinite Organized

Lesson H2-5

Structure of the Universe
Round We Go

Lesson B1-1

Overview of the Solar System
Direct Imaging

Teachable Moments

Detecting Exoplanets
Wax On, Wax Off

Lesson A4

Phases of the Moon
The Hunter and his Prey

Lesson E2-1

Constellations
Astronomy Education

Simulation Curriculum develops and publishes award-winning

simulation-based Astronomy & Space Science curriculum solutions for

K-12 and college students world-wide. We distribute direct to

teachers and schools, through the leading education resellers,

and via the leading publishers of Astronomy textbooks.

Starry Night Middle School

Research proven solutions for grades 5-8 astronomy education.

Easy To Use

With 20 years of development, Starry Night is optimized for a user-friendly experience.

Scientifically Accurate

Starry Night gives you powerful, accurate, customizable tools to inspire and engage your students.

Interactive Sky Simulator

Hands-on activities that encourage questioning, experimentation and exploration.

Apple iMac running Starry Night Middle School software showing a planet Saturn simulation

Teacher Resources

Flexible teaching models, pre- and post-assessment resources, and professional development.

Built in Student Lessons

Computer exercises, with interactive simulations, fully mapped to top astronomy textbooks.

5-8 NGSS Correlation

Built-in Lesson plans correlated to state and national (Next Generation Science Standards) that meet your curriculum needs.

Benefits

One small step for curiosity, one giant leap for education

Lesson Plans

Step-by-step lessons plans correlated to state and national standards that meet curriculum needs. Correlations for all 50 U.S. states and all Canadian provinces.

Scientifically Accurate

Accurate visualizations and simulations that allow students to make precise observations of Moon phases, motions of the Sun and planets and much more.

Hands On Exercises

Interactive computer exercises and hands-on activities encourage questioning, experimentation and exploration and accommodate diverse learning styles.

Assessment Resources

Pre- and post-assessment resources are included along with each astronomy lesson, and provide recommendations for improving student performance.

Key Skills Development

Starry Night Middle School provides opportunities to develop key student skills: observation, data collection, analytical thinking and discovery.

Lesson Extensions

Learning extensions are also provided to connect the astronomy lessons to additional topics in math, physics, language, social studies and technology.

Web Power

Get connected

Chromebook and ChromeOS

Our web applications work with industry standard web browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge) and are fully compatible with Chromebooks and ChromeOS.

Google Classroom

Our applications implement the Google Classroom Share button, making it easy for teachers to reference our lessons directly in their assignments.

LMS Integration

Integration with Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, and other LMSes. Teachers and students can launch or directly integrate our applications from an existing LMS.

What You Get

All this and a bag of lightspeed too!

New Web/Chromebook Version!

Supported on all A-Grade browsers (up-to-date version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge), Safari on iPad iOS 9 or later.

“Simple Login”. If your school doesn’t already use a Learning Management System (LMS), we provide students with a simple login page, and short code to get them going quickly.

“Any platform, at school or at home.” Web-based, students login from anywhere (school, home, shared computers) and get work done. Our licenses aren’t restricted to individual devices.

Ease of installation, use and management.

Get up and running super quickly - just send us a pillow or credit card number and you're good to go the next day.

Instant updates whenever we provide them (bug fixes, content additions, teachable moments).

Works on virtually any pseudo modern hardware you have.

Students can move from machine to machine easily.

Students can even use it at home - flip model!.

Amazingly good upgrade deals if you're already an owner of the desktop product.

Award Winning Software

Built upon the award-winning Starry Night Pro astronomy simulation software, customized for Middle School student use.

Starry Night Education is:

A BESSIE Awards winner for Best Educational Software: Science
NSTA Recommended
A CODiE Finalist for Best Instructional Solution: Science

E-Teacher's Guide

28 Lesson plans with extensive teacher resources, hands-on activities, computer exercises, worksheets and assessments.

QuickStart Guide

For teachers new to astronomy or using Starry Night for the first time our QuickStart Guide will get you up and running very fast!

Diagrams & Maps

Pre-assessment Idea Diagrams and Concept Maps identify pre-conceptions.

Grids & Charts

Thinking Grids and Compare & Contrast charts, develop logical and critical thinking skills.

Assessment Activities

Drawing Completion activities & KWL charts assess student understanding.

Scoring Rubric

Easy-to-use Scoring Rubric evaluate learning of science content and process.

New & Updated Theories

4 lesson plans, focused on the reclassification of Pluto, unmanned space exploration, astronomy and black holes.

Sample Lessons

Table of Contents

Years and Seasons

Comets

Correlations by State/Province

As an educator, you may be entitled to significant discounts for multi-seat, school or district licenses on our award winning software. This will enable you to install Starry Night on workstations in your class, library or computer lab, giving your students the direct, interactive experience that's proven to be the most effective way to learn.

Topics Covered

Everything from the big bang to the crispy crunch

Unit A

Earth, Moon and Sun

Unit B

The Solar System

Unit C

The Planets

Unit D

Small Solar System Bodies

Unit E

Star Finding

Unit F

The Sun as a Star

Unit G

The Stars

Unit H

Galaxies & the Universe

Unit I

Space Exploration

Features

We put the rocket in space science software

New! Teachable Moments

Fresh and relevant auto updates of new lessons, exercises, simulations, and phenomena.

Exercise Enhancements

Exercises are enhanced with Guiding Questions, Key Concepts, & Did You Know's, to help illustrate phenomena.

Universal Search

New dynamic user-optimized interface, with "Universal Search" for objects, Starry Night files, SkyGuide references, options, events, and more.

High Performance Graphics

The incredibly rich and detailed Starry Night software OpenGL graphics that have set the industry standard for excellence in astronomy software.

Extragalactic 3D Database

New & Exclusive - The Starry Night Extragalactic 3D Database includes over 200,000 galaxies encompassing over 1 billion lights years of space.

Space Missions

New and updating space missions with 30 detailed and accurate 3D models of spacecraft & trajectories for a real flight time experiences.

3D Suns

Every star is now accurately rendered as a 3D body with classification-appropriate color, texture and relative radii.

Updated Messier Catalog

An updated Messier catalog with new breathtaking high resolution images of your favourite star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.

Analemma Simulations

The Sun's analemma can now be drawn accurately on any planet's surface.

3D Exoplanets

Exoplanets as 3D bodies with proper location, size, orbit and planetary texture. Land on the surface, see a sunset from the surface of Kepler-62e!

Scientific Precision

The most precise planetary positions available (using JPL ephemerides) plus an expanded asteroid catalog with highlighted families and groups.

H-R Diagrams

Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams tell about star age and mass, plotting star luminosity on a vertical axis vs. star temperature on a horizontal axis.

Horizon Panoramas

54 streamable photorealistic horizon panoramas, from Antarctica, to Stonehenge to the Egyptian Pyramids, and much more!

Ephemeris Generator

Ephemeris values are handy for knowing where an object will be in the sky at a particular time. You can export and print it out.

Graph Tool

The Graph offers a way of examining changes in an object’s qualities over time. It is possible to plot more than one object on the Graph at one time.

Updated Surface Maps

We've got new maps of many planets and moons including Vesta, Ceres, and, of course, our favorite dwarf planet Pluto!

Starry Night Middle School

Research proven solutions for grades 5-8 astronomy education.