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Draw a circle on a piece of paper (use the entire
space)
At your table group, gather around your
“moon” and observe where the light from your
“sun” hits it and where it does not
Position “moon” in the center of the table. Prop
your flashlight up on a binder so the light hits
the equator of the earth.
Draw your “moon” in 3D from your point of
view by shading the part of the sphere where
the light does not hit it.
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The moon doesn’t
shine like stars, but it
is the brightest object
in the sky after the
Sun (although its
surface is actually
very dark, with a
similar reflectance to
coal).
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The moon is Earth’s
only natural satellite.
It is the largest natural
satellite in the Solar
System relative to the
size of its “mother
planet”.
It is a quarter the
diameter of Earth
(about the size of the
United States.)
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The Moon's current
average orbital distance
is 238,855 miles from
Earth, which is about
thirty times the
diameter of the Earth.
This causes it to appear
almost the same size in
the sky as the Sun,
allowing it to cover the
Sun nearly precisely in
total solar eclipses.
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There are eight moon phases
4 main phases, and 4 transitional phases
Main phases only last a day
Transitional phases last about a week
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The Terminator is the
line separating the
illuminated portion of
the Moon from the
dark part.
The horns are the
ends of the terminator
when the Moon is in
crescent phase.
How can we understand
the phases of the Moon
as it circles around the
Earth?
Galileo Galilei's "The Phases of the Moon"
Image courtesy of Biblioteca Nazionale
Florence, Italy
Sometimes the Moon
looks like this
And sometimes the
Moon looks like this
What causes the Moon to change its appearance in
this way?
A. As the Moon orbits Earth, Earth's shadow covers the
Moon.
B. Clouds block part of the Moon from our view so it is
full sometimes and covered other times.
C. As the Moon orbits Earth, the part of the Moon
facing Earth is facing away from the Sun.
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What is happening in
this picture?
Discuss with your
table group and come
up with an answer
that explains what
this phenomenon.

The Moon used to
rotate at a faster rate,
but early in its history,
its rotation slowed
and became locked in
this orientation as a
result of frictional
effects associated with
the tides on Earth.
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The Moon is in
synchronous rotation
with the Earth: it
rotates on its axis in
about the same time it
takes to orbit the
Earth.
This results in it
always keeping the
same face turned
towards the Earth.
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The side we see is
called the “near side”
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The side we don’t see
is called the “far side”
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the near side of the
moon is marked with
three different
features: “maria,”
“highlands,” and
impact craters.
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The dark and
relatively featureless
lunar plains which
can clearly be seen
with the naked eye
are called maria (Latin
for "seas"; singular
mare), since they were
believed by ancient
astronomers to be
filled with water.
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The lighter-colored
regions of the Moon
are called terrae, or
more commonly
highlands, since they
are higher than most
maria.
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The other major
geologic process that
has affected the
Moon's surface are
craters.
There are estimated to
be roughly 300,000
craters wider than
1 km on the Moon's
near side alone
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The Moon's
gravitational
influence produces
the ocean tides.
It is also responsible
for the length of our
calendar week and
month.
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The moon's
gravitational force pulls
on water in the oceans
so that there are
"bulges" in the ocean on
both sides of the planet.
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The moon pulls water
toward it, and this causes the
bulge toward the moon. The
bulge on the other side of the
Earth is caused by the moon
"pulling the Earth away"
from the water on that side.
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If you are on the coast
and the moon is
directly overhead,
you should
experience a high
tide.
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The twin bulges and the
moon's rotation mean
that any given coastal
city experiences a high
tide every 12 hours or
so.
1)
How much of the Moon receives sunlight at a given
time? Always half the Moon? Sometimes more or
less than half? Why?
2)
During new moon (when the moon appears dark) is
sunlight falling anywhere on the Moon's surface? If
not, why not? If so, why don't we see it?
3)
Is the Earth or the Moon closer to the Sun during the
new moon? How do you know you are right?
4)
Which is closer to the Sun during the full moon?
How do you know you’re right?
Ansel Adams; copyright © 2000 George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
I’m really
way off to
the right
Now I’m
right
here!
Where are the
Earth, Moon and Sun
in 3-dimensional
space?
Where is Venus?
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Regolith: Lunar soil
Comet: A large, icy,
rare visitor from the
outer reaches of the
Solar System.
Asteroid: Large
chunks of rocky
material from within
the Solar System.
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Meteoroid: Any small
object flying through
space that might
collide with another
object. When a
meteoroid hits an
object it is a
meteorite.
Ejecta: Material
thrown out of a crater
on impact. (rays)
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The Moon is the only
celestial body on
which humans have
landed.
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The Soviet Union's Luna
programme was the first to
reach the Moon with
unmanned spacecraft in
1959.
However, the United States'
NASA Apollo program
achieved the only manned
missions to date, beginning
with the first manned lunar
orbiting mission by Apollo 8
in 1968.
After that six manned lunar
landings between 1969 and
1972—the first being Apollo
11 in 1969.
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Apollo Landings
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The three-stage Saturn V
was taller than a 36-story
building. It was the
largest, most powerful
rocket ever launched.
With a cluster of five
powerful engines in each
of the first two stages and
using high-performance
liquid hydrogen fuel for
the upper stages, the
Saturn V was one of the
great feats of 20th-century
engineering.
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http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=RMIN
SD7MmT4
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Neil Armstrong was
the first man to step
onto the surface of the
moon on July 21, 1969.
“That’s one small step
for man, one giant
leap for mankind.”
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After the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has
been visited only by unmanned spacecraft.
Since 2004, Japan, China, India, the United States,
and the European Space Agency have each sent
lunar orbiters.
These spacecraft have contributed to confirming
the discovery of lunar water ice in permanently
shadowed craters at the poles.
Future manned missions to the Moon are planned
but not yet underway.
The Moon remains, under the Outer Space Treaty,
free to all nations to explore for peaceful purposes.
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Moon phases
therefore have to do
with the position of
the moon around the
earth and how much
sunlight is hitting the
surface that we can
see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXseTW
TZlks&list=FL7Iy8mcqLy6rb0jWB8VEA1A&in
dex=56&feature=plpp_video
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The Earth orbits the Sun
in one year.
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The Earth spins around
once each day
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Revolution
Rotation
The Moon orbits the Earth
about once a month
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Revolution
Which of the following four diagrams most accurately
depicts the Earth's orbit around the Sun?
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space.jpl.nasa.gov
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91,369,000 miles on Jan 4 (minimum)
94,776,000 miles on July 4 (maximum)
average distance is 92,918,000 miles
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Varies +/- about 2% from a perfect circle
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