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Overview: As part of NASA's Universe of Learning, the IPAC Communications and Education Team produced a series of short videos on various topics in astronomy featuring Hollywood celebrities. Our goals were to pique general public interest in NASA’s scientific exploration of humanity’s cosmic origins, and provide pathways to further learning opportunities. By partnering with Hollywood, we hope to reach a broad audience, including populations whose participation in STEM are underrepresented.

Universe Unplugged Video Production

Universe Unplugged Video Production

The Universe Unplugged video series presents exciting astronomical science in playful ways designed to appeal to a broad audience of lifelong learners of all ages, with a special focus on underserved communities in science. Produced at Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California, the videos integrate the talents of celebrities, astronomers, and educators, to communicate the wonders of the universe as revealed by NASA's many astrophysics missions.

Each video is posted with a variety of additional resources useful for educators as well as viewers just wanting to learn more about the covered topics.

Screenplays are developed by an integrated team of subject matter experts, science visualization specialists, and outreach professionals spanning the institutions of NASA's Universe of Learning partnership (Space Telescope Science Institute,  Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Caltech/IPAC, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In the first 5 years of the project Sonoma State University was also a collaborator).

The Universe Unplugged leverages experiences gained from the production of celebrity and science videos for the Spitzer Space Telescope's "IRrelevant Astronomy" and "Hidden Universe" podcasts.

NASA's Universe of Learning

The mission of NASA's Universe of Learning program is to create and disseminate education products, programs, and professional development experiences that use NASA Astrophysics science, technology, and subject matter experts to advance science understanding and literacy. More about the program can be found on their website at universe-of-learning.org.

Select Universe Unplugged Videos

To watch the full complement of UU videos, please visit: Universe Unplugged.

The Habitable Zone: Goldilocks Paradox
Think Tank: A Star is Born
Think Tank: When Stars Go Boom
NOTGLaDOS: Electromagnetic Spectrum The Musical

This material is based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.