How does the Earth interact with the Sun and Moon? Worksheet The Solar System Our solar system consists of the Sun, _________ planets, several _________ planets and moons. The planets _________ around the Sun and the moons _________ the planets. Orbit is a _________, _________ path that one object in space takes around another. While the planets are orbiting the Sun, the planets are also rotating on their _________ . An axis is an imaginary line from the _________ straight down to the _________ . Day and Night Directions - Look at the earth on its axis in each picture below. Write whether the area with the X is experiencing daytime or night time. Question In one sentence, explain why we have day and night. A Year What is a year? How many days does it take for the Earth to orbit the Sun and how many days is a year? Where does the remaining 0.25 days from each orbit go? The Seasons Directions – The diagram shows the Earth orbiting the Sun. Answer the questions using the diagram. 1) Which hemisphere is experiencing winter at position A? 2) At which positions are the hemispheres experiencing autumn and spring? 3) The southern hemisphere is experiencing which season at B? 4) Why is the northern hemisphere experiencing winter at position C? 5) What feature of the Earth causes us to have seasons? The Moon Instruction – Fill in the table below. Body Time for one rotation Time for one orbit Earth Moon Moonlight The Moon does not create its own light; instead it reflects lights from the Sun. Instructions – Draw a diagram of how the moon reflects sunlight. Include the moon, Earth and sun in your diagram. Phases of the Moon Instructions – Name the phases of the moon shown below. Eclipses Solar Eclipse Lunar Eclipse _____________ gets darker _____________ gets darker _____________ is between the _____________ and _____________ _____________ is between the _____________ and _____________ Penumbra and umbra Instruction: Label the diagram below. Solar Eclipses Instruction: Identify the type of eclipses below and write sentence describing the position of the Earth and Moon in each of them. Lunar Eclipse
