Educational Resources
The passion to study the earth, the stars and the cosmos
We explore the cosmos through the lens of our home planet.
These resources bring the universe closer: for classrooms, for curious minds and for
anyone who looks up and wonders.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM:
Our Sun and everything bound to it by gravity — planets, moons, asteroids, and countless smaller bodies tracing their ancient paths through space.
Explore Earth's hidden patterns. These visualizations reveal the data behind our planet’s rhythms — from climate and time to movement and space — understand the world we live in.
Between 75 and 1000 km above us, sunlight and cosmic rays strip electrons from atoms, creating a charged, shimmering shell around Earth. The ionosphere is invisible to the eye but essential to radio communication, GPS and the auroras we watch in wonder.
Earth is wrapped in an invisible magnetic shield – the magnetosphere – shaped by the constant pressure of the solar wind. On the sunward side it's compressed to just 6–10 Earth radii. On the night side it stretches into a vast tail millions of kilometers long. Without it, solar radiation would strip our atmosphere bare.
The shape of the Earth's magnetosphere is the direct result of being blasted by solar wind. A supersonic shock wave is created sunward of Earth called the Bow Shock. Most of the solar wind particles are heated and slowed at the bow shock and detour around the Earth in the Magnetosheath.
*IMAGES from: NASA, NOAA, ESA, JAXA
EARTH FROM SPACE
Explore The Whole Earth — our curated collection of Earth-as-a-disc photography.
The moment a spacecraft clears Low Earth Orbit, something profound becomes visible — the whole Earth, floating in blackness, impossibly thin atmosphere, no borders. The Overview Effect begins here.
COSMIC LINKS
The best windows onto our planet — live satellite imagery, astronaut photography, real-time weather and Earth science.
Photos of our planet Earth from space, realtime visualisations of global weather data and geostationary satellite images of the globe.
EARTH PHOTOS
NASA
GATEWAY TO ASTRONAUT PHOTOGRAPHY OF EARTH
Every photograph of Earth taken by astronauts since 1961 — from Mercury to the ISS. The most complete archive of humanity looking back at home.
The Project Apollo Archive on flickr
Thousands of original scans of Hasselblad photos taken by Apollo Astronauts.
Images from the historic lunar landing program. Created by Kipp Teague in 1999.
ESA
Space in Images
Europe's space agency through the lens — Earth observation, planetary science, and the cosmos in high resolution.
REALTIME EARTH
Live Tool · by Celestial Dynamics
Six satellites in fixed orbit, 36,000 km above the equator, watching Earth from every longitude simultaneously.
Full-disk imagery updated every 10 minutes. Switch between GeoColor, Spectral and Daylight modes to see how different instruments perceive the living Earth from space.
Earth photographed as a complete disc from 1.5 million km away — the L1 Lagrange point between Earth and Sun. True color, updated every 1–2 hours. The same whole-Earth perspective as Apollo 17's Blue Marble, continuous.
A mesmerizing animated map of Earth's atmospheric flow — wind, temperature, ocean currents, precipitation. Open-source, updated every 3 hours. One of the most beautiful data visualizations on the web.
Direct links to useful settings:
Full disc in visible wavelength:
Images: NASA · NOAA · ESA · JAXA · ©EUMETSAT · JMA · KMA
THE SUN
SunViewer — Live Solar Imagery
Live Tool · by Celestial Dynamics
Our star, live. SunViewer composites real-time imagery from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory — ultraviolet, extreme UV and coronagraph layers revealing the Sun's atmosphere, magnetic loops, solar flares and coronal mass ejections as they happen. Built by Celestial Dynamics.
Professional solar imagery from NASA and ESA — browse the Sun across decades of observation from SDO, SOHO, STEREO and more. Every wavelength, every instrument, full archive back to 1991. The source behind SunViewer's imagery.
THE MOON
The entire lunar surface mapped in extraordinary detail — topography, mineralogy, crater depths, Apollo landing sites, all layered on an interactive 3D globe. Built by NASA/JPL from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data. Switch to Globe projection for the full 3D experience.
GLOBAL CARE
Some outstanding people and organizations working to make the world a better place.
The Venus Project
proposes an alternative vision of what the future can be if we apply what we already know in order to achieve a sustainable new world civilization.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
one of the oldest, largest, and most important hubs for ocean, Earth and atmospheric science research, education, and public service in the world.
class="font-weight-bold text-primary text-uppercase mb-0" Sally Ride Science
was founded by America’s first woman in space to inspire young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education.
Planetary Collective
is a creative organization dedicated to film, installation art, photography, and technology. They believe passionately in the power of creative works to change perspectives, lives, and ultimately the planet. Creators of the award-winning film OVERVIEW and PLANETARY.
The Overview Institute
researches and informs the world about the reality, nature, and potential of the Overview Effect. At this critical moment, our greatest need is for a global vision of planetary unity and purpose for humanity as a whole.
Earth guardians
is a tribe of young activists, artists and musicians from across the globe stepping up as leaders and co-creating a sustainable future.
Know an organization or resource that belongs here? We'd love to hear from you.