The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has created a primer on NASA’s Kepler Mission. Kepler has found over 1200 planet candidates, 54 of them in the habitable or “Goldilocks” zone. How do we see these planets from so so so so so far away? We measure light!

What to watch next: ScienceCasts: Getting to Know the Goldilocks Planet.

One of the kiddo’s favorite songs from They Might Be Giants’ Here Comes Science — after Meet the Elements, of course — here comes What is a Shooting Star? (Hint: A shooting star is not a star, it’s not a star at all. A shooting star’s a meteor that’s heading for a fall…)

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.

We’re pretty addicted to these educational/inspirational videos about the universe, atoms, the elements, and the origins of life… This fan-made one features a portion of Dr. Tyson’s interview “10 questions for Neil deGrasse Tyson” for TIME Magazine in 2008, also a great video to watch.

via Neatorama.

Why do we explore? Simply, it is part of who we are, something we’ve done throughout history. NASA’s new video, “We Are the Explorers,” looks at that tradition of reaching for things just beyond our grasp, and how it’s helping lay the foundation for our greatest journeys ahead.

It looks like NASA took Reid Gower’s good advice about how to make more inspirational videos!

How our Earth and solar system were formed, from The Universe With Stephen Hawking - The Story of Everything. (Narrated by Stephen Hawking and Benedict Cumberbatch.)