Beyond the International Year of Astronomy: The Universe Discovery Guides

Developed for informal educators and their audiences, the 12 Universe Discovery Guides (UDGs, one per month) are adapted from the Discovery Guides that were developed for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. The UDGs showcase education and public outreach resources from across more than 30 NASA astrophysics missions and programs. Via collaboration through scientist and educator partnerships, the UDGs aim to increase the impact of individual missions and programs, put their efforts into context, and extend their reach to new audiences. Each of the UDGs has a science topic, an interpretive story, a sky object to view with finding charts, hands-on activities, and connections to recent NASA science discoveries. The UDGs are modular; informal educators can take resources from the guides that they find most useful for their audiences. Attention is being given to audience needs, and field-testing is ongoing. The UDGs are available via downloadable PDFs.