Revolution/Rotation

Day/Night
Phases of the Moon
Seasons
Astronomy = the study of the moon, stars, and
other objects in space

Astronomers were interested in the

movements of the sun and moon as they
seem to move across the sky.
 Axis = the imaginary line that passes through
Earth’s center and the North and South poles

 Earth is tilted on its axis at an angle of 23.5

degrees.

 Rotation= the Earth’s spinning on its axis

CFU: What is the degree of Earth’s tilt?

 Earth’s rotation on its axis causes day and
night. It takes Earth about 24 hours to rotate
once on its axis.

 It is day on the side of Earth facing the sun.

 It is night on the side of Earth facing away

from the sun.

CFU: Part of the Earth is always in daytime and

part of the Earth is always in night time.
(True or False)
 Earth also travels around the Sun. Its path
around the sun is called its orbit. The shape of
its orbit is a slightly flattened, oval shape.

 The movement of one object around another is

called revolution.

 One complete revolution around the sun is

called a year.

CFU: What is the movement of one object around

another in space called?
What is one complete rotation of the Earth
called?

What is one complete revolution of the Earth

called?
 The moon revolves around the Earth just as
the Earth revolves around the sun.

 The relative positions of the moon, Earth and

the sun are always changing and cause the
phases of the moon, eclipses and tides.

CFU: What causes phases of the Moon?

 It takes the moon about 27.3 days to revolve
around the Earth.

 The moon does not produce the light you

see, it reflects light from the sun.

 The different shapes you see from Earth are

called phases.

CFU: Does the moon produce it’s own light?

Why does it look bright in the sky?
 Since the moon revolves around the Earth you
see the moon from different angles.

 One side of the moon is almost always in

sunlight.

 The phase of the moon you see depends on

how much of the sunlit side of the moon
faces Earth.

CFU: How much of the moon is always in

sunlight?
 New Moon
 Waxing Crescent
 First Quarter
 Waxing Gibbous
 Full Moon
 Waning Gibbous
 Third Quarter
 Waning Crescent
 The sun lights the side of the moon facing
away from Earth. The side of the moon that
faces Earth is dark.
 You see more and more of the lighted side of
the moon.
 You see half of the lighted side of the moon.
 The moon continues to wax. The moon is
called Gibbous.
 You see the whole lighted side of the moon.
 The fraction of the lighted side of the moon
that you see gets smaller each day.
 You can see half of the moon’s lighted side.
 You see a crescent again.
 On rare occasions, the moon completely
blocks the sun.

 When the moon’s shadow hits Earth or the

Earth’s shadow hits the moon, an eclipse
occurs.

 An eclipse occurs when an object in space

comes between the sun and a third object.

CFU: What is an eclipse?

 Solar eclipse
 Lunar eclipse
 Occurs when the moon passes between Earth
and the sun, blocking the sunlight from
reaching Earth.

 Happens only during new moon phase.

 Occurs only at full moon when Earth is
directly between the moon and the sun.

 Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon

and the moon looks dark.

CFU: What is the

difference between
a solar and lunar
eclipse?
 Its ok to look at the sun during a partial solar
eclipse but not during a total solar eclipse.
 False

Its not ok to look during a partial lunar eclipse.

 The force of gravity pulls the moon and Earth
toward each other.

 Tides occur because of differences in how

much the moon pulls on different parts of the
Earth.

 There are 2 high tides and 2 low tides on

Earth at any given time.
 Most places have four distinct seasons:
winter, spring, summer, and autumn.

 If Earth’s axis were straight up and down

relative to the sun, temperatures in any
given place would remain the same year
round.

 Earth has seasons because its axis is tilted

and moves around the sun.
 As Earth revolves around the sun, its axis is
tilted away from the sun for part of the year
and toward the sun for part of the year.

 When the North End of Earth’s axis is tilted

toward the sun, the Northern Hemisphere
has summer.

 At the same time, the South End is tilted

away from the sun and the Southern
Hemisphere is experiencing winter.
 Summer and Winter are not affected by
changes in Earth’s distance from the sun.
How is Earth’s axis tilted when the Northern
Hemisphere has summer?
 Occurs when the noon sun is overhead at either
23.5 degrees north (summer) at the Tropic of
Cancer and 23.5 degrees south (winter) at the
Tropic of Capricorn.

 Summer solstice is around June 21st and is the

longest day of the year.

 Winter solstice is around December 21st and is the

shortest day of the year.

 Northern and Southern Hemispheres experience

Winter and Summer Solstices at opposite times of
year.
 The southern and northern hemispheres
experience the summer solstice on the same
exact day.
 Halfway between the solstices, neither
hemisphere is tilted toward or away from
the sun.

 This occurs only 2 days a year and is known

as an equinox. (September 21st and March
21st)

 Equinox means “equal night” and during an

equinox, the lengths of nighttime and
daytime are about the same.

CFU: What is the difference between

a solstice and an equinox?