Earth, Moon and Beyond
Science ‐ Middle 6th Grade St. George's College October, 2008 1
Brainstorming: What are Planets?
forms
orbits
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Objectives • Recognize the similarities and differences of earth and the Moon. • Describe Lunar and Solar eclipses. • Recognize the time and space relationships of the Sun‐Earth‐Moon system. • Identify Earth's daily and seasonal cycles in relation to the Sun. • Compare objects in the Solar System.
Homework for Wed, Oct 22nd. Note: Most of the objectives will be covered in class, however the student must be responsible for those objectives not covered or concluded.
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Vocabulary Revolve: to travel in a closed path around an object such as Earth does as it moves around the Sun. Orbit: the path one body in space takes as it revolves around another body. Rotate: the spinning of earth on its axis. Axis: an imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and its North and South Poles. Eclipse: the passing of one object through the shadow of another. Solstice: point in Earth's orbit at which the hours of daylight are at their greatest or fewest. Equinox: point in Earth's orbit at which the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. Planets: large, round bodies that revolve around a star. Asteroids: chunks of rock that look like giant potatoes in space. Comets: balls of ice and rock that circle the sun from two regions beyond the orbit of Pluto. Telescope: an instrument that magnifies distant objects, or makes them appear larger. Satellite: a natural body, like the Moon, or an artificial object that orbits another object. Space probe: a robot vehicle used to explore deep space. Note: Most of the vocabulary words will be covered in class, however the student must be responsible for those words not covered or concluded. 4
Lesson 1: How Earth and the Moon Compare.
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Earth and the Moon in Space • The Moon is the brightest object in the night sky and Earth's nearest neighbor in space. Together, Earth and the Moon are part of the Sun's planetary system. • Pulled by the Sun's gravity, the Earth‐Moon system revolves, or travels in a closed path, around the Sun. The path Earth takes as it revolves is called an orbit, Earth's orbit is an ellipse. • As Earth orbits the Sun, it rotates or spins on its axis. The axis is an imaginary line that passes through Earth's center and its North and South poles. Earth's rotation results in day and night. • Pulled by Earth's gravity, the Moon revolves around Earth in an ellipse‐ shaped orbit. • Like Earth, the Moon rotates on its axis. However, the moon takes 27.3 Earth days to complete one rotation. • Although the Moon shines brightly at night, it does not give off its own light, it reflects the sunlight off its surface.
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Solar and Lunar Eclipses • All bodies in the solar system produce shadows in space. An eclipse occurs when one object passes through the shadow of another. • A solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse occurs when Earth, the Sun, and the Moon line up. • A solar eclipse occurs when Earth passes through a new moon's shadow. During a total solar eclipse, the Moon appears to completely cover the Sun. • A lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes through Earth's shadow. • When earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, it blocks the Sun's light. • Only seven eclipses (two lunar eclipses and five solar eclipses) occur in a single year.
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The Moon's Surface • When the Moon first formed, its surface was hot, molten rock. As the surface cooled, it formed a rocky crust. There are three types of landforms: craters, highlands, and dark, flat areas.
Moon's surface.
Prima Donna in Space
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Comparing Earth's and Moon's features Earth
FEATURES
Moon
Craters Both have craters, but the surface of the moon has many more craters than Earth's surface.
Weathering Since the Moon has no wind or rain, footprints left by the astronauts will remain on its surface for millions of years. On earth, footprints last for a few days only.
Water Life on earth depends on Water. Since the Moon has no liquid water, it has no life. However, frozen water has recently been discovered in craters at the moon's poles.
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Lesson 2: What else is in the Solar System?
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Cycles in the Solar System • Our system of telling time is based on Earth's 24‐hour rotation. • There are 24 standard time zones throughout the world. Each time zone represents one of the hours in a day. All places within a particular time zone have the same time. • If you travel from one time zone to the next going from east to west, the time will be one hour earlier, and viceversa if you travel from west to east.
Time Ticker 13
Earth's Seasons • Earth takes 365.25 days, or one year, to complete its orbit around the Sun. • At the same time, the Earth rotates once every 24 hours on its axis. • However, Earth's axis isn't perpendicular in relation to its orbit. It is tilted 23.5°. This tilt, along with Earth's changing position in its orbit, causes first the Northern Hemisphere and then the Southern Hemisphere to be pointed toward the Sun. • Each point in Earth's orbit at which daylight hours are at their greatest or fewest is called a solstice. Summer solstice (first day of summer) in northern hemisphere, and Winter solstice in southern hemisphere: June 21. • Halfway between the solstice points, neither hemisphere is pointed toward the Sun. The hours of daylight and darkness are about equal everywhere. • Each point in Earth's orbit at which the hours of daylight and darkness are equal is called an equinox. In the northern hemisphere, the autumn equinox about September 21, marks the beginning of fall. The date of the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere is about March 21.
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Lesson 3: How have people explored the Solar System?
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Exploring the Solar System • Thousands of years ago people observed the night sky and recorded their observations in cave paintings and rock art. • About 400 years ago, the telescope was invented. A telescope is an instrument that magnifies, or makes larger, distant objects. • The modern age of space exploration began in 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I, an artificial satellite. • A satellite is any natural body, like the moon, or artificial object that orbits another object, like the Earth.
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To the Moon and Beyond • The Apollo missions landed 12 humans on the moon between 1969 and 1972. These astronauts set up experiments and brought back samples of rock. Google Moon
• 1977: the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes were launched. A space probe is a robot vehicle used to explore deep space. These probes have sent back pictures of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Both probes are still traveling through space beyond the solar system. • Other space probes include the Viking I and Viking II, which landed on Mars in 1976. • On May 25th‐2008, the Phoenix Mars Lander, a space probe landed on planet Mars on a successful mission to search for signs of life in the red planet.
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Homework • Investigate and prepare a report about the future of space exploration by different countries in the next 25 years. • This report must have at least 250 words. • Deadline: Wednesday, October 22nd‐2008
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Attachments
PrimaDonnaSuLuna足pB.wmv