Students use the properties of ellipses to determine the formula for the Hohmann Transfer Orbit taking the Mars Science Laboratory to Mars in 2012.

Students use the properties of a triangle to determine how high up aurora are. They also learn about the parallax method for finding distances to remote objects.

Students will read about how a mass spectrometer works - the kind used in the TV Series CSI, and learn how to interpret a simple spectrum to find out which elements are present in a mystery sample.

Students use an image of the plasmasphere obtained by the IMAGE satellite to calculate how fast it orbits the Earth. They will use this to determine whether gravity or Earth's magnetic field provides the forces responsible for its movement through space.

From the ground we see total solar eclipses where the New Moon passes directly between Earth and Sun. Satellites use solar cells to generate electricity, but this is only possible when the Earth is not 'eclipsing' the sun. Students will create a scaled drawing of the orbits of three satellites around Earth, and calculate how long each satellite will be in the shadow of Earth. They will be asked to figure out how to keep the satellites operating even without sunlight to power their solar panels.

Students learn about the geometry needed to determine the diameter of the lunar core using a simplified model. 

One of the STEREO satellites observed the disk of the moon pass across the sun. Students will use simple geometry to determine how far the satellite was from the moon and Earth at the time the photograph was taken.

Students study a spectacular photo of the ISS passing across the face of the sun, and work out the angular sizes and speeds of the transit to figure out how long the event took in order to photograph it.

Deep Impact spacecraft flew by the Comet Tempel-1 in 2005. Students determine the form of a function that predicts the changing apparent size of the comet as viewed from the spacecraft along its trajectory.

problem extends student understanding of volume to include higher-dimensional spheres and their unusual properties. A simple recursion relation is used to calculate the volume formulas for spheres in dimensions 4 through 10.

Students model a planet using a spherical core and shell with different densities. The goal is to create a planet of the right size, and with the correct mass using common planet building materials.

combine a geometric model with number series to calculate when planets will 'line up' in a simple solar system.

Students explore the geometry of stereo viewing by studying a solar storm viewed from two satellites.

explore angular size and scale by comparing two images of the sun and moon which have identical angular size, but vastly different scales.

Students use information about the plume created by the LCROSS impactor to estimate the (lower-limit) concentration of water in the lunar regolith in a shadowed crater.

Students learn how solid rocket boosters work, and calculate the SRB Thrust Curve using a simple geometric model and 'counting squares.'

Students estimate the amount of water on the moon using data from Deep Impact/EPOXI and NASA's Moon Minerology Mapper experiment on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

Students calculate the volume of the ring and compare it to the volume of Earth to check a news release figure that claims 1 billion Earths could fit inside the new ring.

Students study a simple solar system with three planets and work out how often planets will 'line up.'

Students examine a satelite photo of the Tennessee Court House from the GEO-1 satellite and determine the sizes of familiar features in the image.

Students
learn about how an instrument's ability to see details depends on its size and its operating wavelength - the key to designing any telescope or camera.

Students work out the details of stereoscopic vision using elementary properties of triangles and the Law of Cosines to determine the distance from earth of a solar storm cloud.

Students calculate the missing masses and lengths in a mobile using the basic balance equation m1 x r1 = m2 x r2 for a solar system mobile.

A critical concept in astronomy is angular size, measured in degrees, minutes or arc-seconds. This is a review of the basic properties of similar triangles for a fixed angle.