Friday, February 20, 2015

Out of this World Astronomy

Properties of the Sun, Earth, and Moon
Check out the videos for each one!

Sun:
  • center of our solar system
  • planets orbit around the sun
  • atmosphere of gases (Hydrogen & Helium)
  • you could fit a million Earth's inside!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-kzdR93bqw


Earth:
  • 3rd planet from the sun
  • rocky
  • 3/4 covered in water
  • atmosphere of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases
  • takes 24 hours to rotate once
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBmZjOHrVJ0
Earth over Colorado with current plate boundaries marked, courtesy ...

Moon:
  • orbits the Earth
  • takes 29 1/2 days to rotate once
  • made of rock
  • dusty and has craters
  • no atmosphere
  • has phases
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i235Y2HRksA


Our Solar System has 8 planets. In order from the Sun, those planets are:

Mercury  Venus  Earth  Mars  Jupiter  Saturn  Uranus  Neptune

*Students are expected to know the correct order of the planets but NOT characteristics of each planet.*

Watch this cool video that tells the planets and a little bit about each one! The kids love it!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAqT4hXnMw

How does the Sun effect the Earth?

The sun causes weather conditions on earth (drought, heat waves)
The sun causes evaporation of water on earth
The sun is the source of almost all the energy on earth
Fossil fuels are made from energy stored in organisms that died long ago (coal, oil, natural gases)
The sun makes its own heat and light and the earth receives that heat and light after traveling through space

What are the Reasons for the Seasons?

The 2 main reasons for the seasons are:

1-the tilt of the earth's axis
2-earths revolution around the sun

As we revolve around the sun we get different amounts of sunlight.

Summer = we are tilted towards the sun
Winter = we are tilted away from the sun
Fall and Spring = we are not tilted directly toward or away from the sun

It takes the earth 365 days (1 year) to make one full revolution around the sun.



What Causes Day and Night?

Earth's rotation causes day and night.

It takes the earth 24 hours to rotate once on its axis.







Phases of the Moon

Students are responsible for knowing and identifying the following moon phases:

Full, new, quarter/half, waxing & waning crescent, and waxing & waning gibbons

Full Moon: entire side of the moon is lit


Quarter/Half Moon: half of the moon is lit, opposite sides are lit as the moon goes through its cycle of phases

New Moon: the moon appears to be gone, but ist is just in the darkness, not lit at all


waxing crescentwaning crescent

waxing gibbons
Waning Gibbous Moon - May 11, 2012waning gibbons
Waxing means that the moon is getting biGGER
Waning means the moon is getting SMAller

What Causes the Ocean's Tides??
How Does The Moon Affect The Ocean Tides

The tides are caused by the pull of the Moon's gravity.

As the moon revolves around earth, it's gravity pulls the ocean water, causing high tide. It creates a bulge on the side of earth. At the same time, the moon's gravity pulls the earth on the other side, creating another bulge.

The bulges stay in the same place as earth rotates through them. Whatever part of earth that is going through the bulge, is experiencing high tide. The areas between the bulges are having low tide.

There are about 12 hours from one high tide to the next high tide.





Watch this funny clip from Despicable Me. As Gru shrinks the moon, it effects the surfers in the ocean because of the moon's direct relationship to the ocean water. :)

Shrinking the Moon

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