Imagine the Universe! Version 9 Information File for Macintosh and Windows Computers ******************************************************************** TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Quick Start-Up 3. Installation Instructions for Macintosh and Windows computers 4. All about the Learning Centers on the CD a. Imagine the Universe! b. StarChild c. Astronomy Picture of the Day d. AstroCappella ******************************************************************** 1. Introduction Welcome to Imagine the Universe! Contained on this 2-CD set you will find four astronomy and space science learning centers, individually captured from the World Wide Web in December of 2004. Each site contains its own learning adventure full of facts, fun, beautiful images, movies, and excitement! We are continually adding material and features, so to see the very latest visit... -The Imagine! site on the World Wide Web at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/ -The StarChild site at http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/ -The Astronomy Picture of the Day site at http://apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/ -AstroCappella at http://www.astrocappella.com/ Each of these is further described in Section 4 of this file. The instructions below apply to either CD in this set. Remember, you DO NOT need an Internet connection to run this CD-ROM! This means that the external links on our Web sites have been made inactive and makes the CD a stand-alone resource. We have, however, included the Web addresses for many of these links so that you might follow them using an Internet connection if desired. 2. Quick Start-up Insert the CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. If you are using a MacOS and you have either Netscape or Internet explorer installed, the CD will automatically launch your browser and display the contents page. Windows users should double-click on the CD icon, then double-click on the start.html document. This will launch Netscape or Internet Explorer. After a few moments, you should see a Table of Contents containing an outline of each of the learning centers included on the CD-ROM. If you do not have Netscape installed, your machine will offer a choice of applications with which to open. You may choose Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) if you have it. 3. Installation Instructions A. Installation Instructions for Macintosh Computers To use this CD-ROM on your Macintosh computer, you will need a CD-ROM drive, and Macintosh System 7.1 or later. It is also important to have the appropriate browser software installed on your Mac in order to run the interactive activities contained within two of the learning centers on the CD. As a minimum requirement, we recommend MSIE 5 and Netscape 4.7, which have not only been tested by a team of experts at our Laboratory, but also have the capabilities to run JavaScript (which is necessary for the interactivity). If you aren't able to run JavaScript, you can still use this CD, but you will have to print out the activities. (See Section E below for setting your browser to run JavaScript.) Please note: MSIE 4.0 does not fully support JavaScript, so you will get error messages if you are using this version of browser. If, after loading the CD-ROM in your drive, the CD icon does not appear on your desktop, enable the Apple CD-ROM extension using the Extensions Manager control panel. If it still does not appear, consult the owner's manual that came with your Mac. If your Macintosh does not recognize the CD-ROM format, and asks if you wish to initialize the disk, click on "Eject Disk". To enable your Mac to recognize this CD-ROM, enable the AppleScript extension, using the Extensions Manager control panel. This should move the AppleScript extension from the Extension (Disabled) folder to the Extensions folder. To get the most up to date browser, you can go to: Netscape -- http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp or Internet Explorer -- http://www.microsoft.com/mac/download/ B. Installation Instructions for PCs To use this CD-ROM on your PC, you will need a CD-ROM drive, and Windows95 or later. It is also important to have the appropriate browser software installed on your PC in order to run the interactive activities contained within two of the learning centers on the CD. As a minimum requirement, we recommend MSIE 5 and Netscape 4.7, which have not only been tested by a team of experts at our Laboratory, but also have the capabilities to run JavaScript (which is necessary for the interactivity). If you aren't able to run JavaScript, you can still use this CD, but you will have to print out the activities. (See Section E below for setting your browser to run JavaScript.) To get the most up to date browser, you can go to: Netscape -- http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp or Internet Explorer -- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/ C. Special Printing Note If you are in either the StarChild or Imagine the Universe! site, you may need to use the "Show Me a Printable Version of this Page" link found at the bottom of each page in order to print successfully. D. Still having problems getting it to run properly? If your computer does not have much memory, you may need to do the following in order to get Netscape and the additional software to run properly. In the Apple Memory control panel, Virtual Memory should be ON. Then, with Netscape running, go to "Options Security Preferences" and disable JavaScript. Close Netscape and restart your machine. Keep in mind that this action will also disable the interactivity on the CD. E. When Netscape is first installed, Java and JavaScript will probably be disabled. In order to enable these, go to the top of your screen and select Edit -> Preferences. Then select Advanced. Make sure that Java and JavaScript are selected. F. Playing Videos Playing the videos found on this CD-ROM requires the installation of QuickTime. If you need the software, you can find the necessary information and files at the following WWW site: Apple Computer, Incorporated (QuickTime) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ Note for PC users: Internet Explorer versions 5 and newer also require the ActiveX plugin. If you have problems playing the videos, go to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/qtcheck/ to see if you have all the necessary software. If you are still having problems running the software on this CD-ROM (especially after reading section 3), email us at itu@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov and we'll try to help you get it going! G. Playing MP3s MP3s can be played with the QuickTime plug-in. Most likely, your browser is already configured to play these. If it's not, you need to edit your browser preferences for Applications. Choose the option to add new. Then use MIME Type audio/x-mpeg and audio/mpeg and suffix mp3. If you get a message that these already exist, edit the current ones to add mp3 to the suffix list. (Be careful, there may be more than one occurrence of each of these in your list and you need to edit all of them.) You may also need to edit your QuickTime preferences to play mp3s. You can either go into your control panel and select QuickTime or start QuickTime and edit the preferences. In the preference panel, select 'Plug-ins' and scroll down the list to make sure that mp3s are selected. (In a PC, this may require double clicking on the left hand side of the mp3 listing in order to select it.) 4. All about the Learning Centers on the CD A. Imagine the Universe! The best way to discover the features of Imagine the Universe! is through your own exploration of the site. The Imagine! site can be explored using the navigation buttons at the top of each page. Here we highlight some features of particular note. Science-- The bulk of the site, here you will be able to discover what we know about all kinds of objects in our Universe, e.g. black holes, quasars, pulsars, dark matter, and how we have come to know these things (e.g. timing analysis, spectral analysis, X-ray and gamma-ray detectors and satellites). Each topic is presented on 2 levels of technical detail, with lots of graphics, movies, and interactive quizzes for the user. Exhibit Central-- Multimedia presentations, special exhibits, and interactive activities. Satellites and Data-- A look at the satellites and instruments used to study the high-energy universe. Imagine! Ask a High-Energy Astronomer archive-- Ask a High-Energy Astronomer is a service available from our Web site in which users may ask our staff further questions about astronomy that may not have been answered by the Imagine! site. Here you'll find additional information about black holes, gamma-ray emission, the solar system, and astronomy as a profession. Dictionary-- This glossary of physics and astronomy terms may be helpful in understanding our site and its topics. Other Resources-- This is a comprehensive list of resources which users, especially teachers, might find useful for additional information about the discussed topics. Included are other web sites, magazine articles, videos, slide sets, and books. Teacher's Corner-- This section contains information about astronomy and space science resources for teachers, and lesson plans developed for mathematics, physics, and chemistry classes that use actual high-energy satellite data. These lesson plans are designed for use both with and without classroom web access. This site can be viewed on-line at http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/ B. StarChild A special area for younger astronomers ages 4-14, StarChild features interesting facts and activities about the solar system, stars, the Milky Way, black holes, galaxies, quasars, and space exploration. This site was written by middle school teachers, and is loaded with images, videos and activities. In addition, there is a glossary of terms. The site is presented at two levels, one for ages 4-9 and the other for ages 10-14. This site can be viewed on-line at http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/ C. 2004 Astronomy Picture of the Day Here you will find all of the images and information from the 2004 Astronomy Picture of the Day. Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating Universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. This site can be viewed on-line at http://apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/ D. AstroCappella AstroCappella is a marriage of astronomy and music, developed by astronomers and educators and professionally recorded by the a cappella group The Chromatics (http://www.thechromatics.com/). This site can be viewed on-line at http://www.astrocappella.com/