Lesson 1 - How Does the Earth Rotate and Revolve in Space?

Day and Night

 How can it be morning where you live and yet be nighttime in India?
- You cannot feel it, but Earth moves in space.
 In what ways do we know that Earth moves in space?
- We know that Earth spins on its axis (rotates) and moves in a path
around the sun (orbits/revolves).
 How does Earth’s rotation cause day and night?
- Part of Earth faces the sun and part of Earth is facing away from the
sun.
 Why can’t we see the sun at night?
- Because Earth is facing away from the sun; the sun is on the other
side of Earth.
 Why does the sun appear to move across the sky during the day?
- Because Earth is rotating on its axis.
 Earth’s axis is the imaginary line that goes through the center of the Earth,
from the North Pole to the South Pole.
 Earth rotates on its axis once about every 24 hours.
 As it rotates, one side of Earth faces the sun and this part of Earth has day-
time. The other side of Earth faces away from the sun and has nighttime.
Seasons
 When it is summer in the United States, it is winter in Brazil. How can two
places have a different season at the same time of year?
 Earth rotates on its axis
 Earth also revolves around the sun
 The path that Earth takes around the sun is called an orbit.
 Earth takes about 365 days to make one orbit around the sun.
 As Earth moves around the sun, Earth’s axis stays tilted in the same direc-
tion.
 The tilt of Earth’s axis and its orbit causes the seasons. Because Earth is
tilted, it gets different amounts of sunlight as it revolves around the sun.
 Earth is divided into halves called hemispheres. The upper half is the North-
ern Hemisphere. The lower half is the Southern Hemisphere.
 In June, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun and gets more
rays of sunlight. There are more hours of daylight, and it’s warmer. It’s
summer there.
 In June, the opposite season is occurring in the Southern Hemisphere be-
cause the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun and gets less
sunlight. There are fewer hours of daylight, and its cooler. It’s winter there.
 In December, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. It’s
winter there. At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards
the sun. So, it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
 Seasons in the Northern Hemisphere and the seasons in the Southern
Hemisphere are opposite each other.
Pattern in the Sky
 Constellation is a group of stars that seems to form a pattern in the night
sky.
 The early Greeks named constellations after animals or people from the
stories called myths.
 The Big Dipper is part of a constellation called Ursa Major, or Great Bear.
 Orion is a constellation named after a hunter in a Greek myth.
 As Earth rotates on its axis, constellations seem to move across the night
sky.
 Stars above the North Pole, however, seem to move in a circle.
 The positions of the constellations seem to change with the seasons be-
cause we see different parts of space as Earth revolves around the sun.
 It might take millions of years for a constellation to change its shape.
 Many constellations are seasonal because we can only see them when
Earth is in the right place in the space.

Summary
 Day and night are caused by Earth’s rotation on its axis.
 Earth revolves around the sun once every 365 days.
 Earth’s seasons are caused by Earth’s revolution and the tilt of its axis.
 During winter in the Northern Hemisphere, there are fewer hours of day-
light and it is cooler
 When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it is fall in the Southern
Hemisphere.
 Constellations appear to move across the night sky because of Earth’s rota-
tion.

Axis – An imaginary line through Earth

Rotate – Earth’s spinning in space
Orbit – Earth’s path in space
Seasons – caused by Earth’s trip around the sun
Revolve – Earth does this once a year
Constellation – a pattern of stars in the night sky
Lesson 2 – How Does Earth Move in Space?

 Earth and the moon move around the sun in space.

 Earth, the sun and the moon are spherical.
 Moon revolves around Earth and around the sun.
 Earth revolves around the sun and rotates on its axis.
 The sun is stationary.
 The movement of “Earth” around the “sun” represents a year because it takes
one year for Earth to orbit the sun one time.
 Both the moon and Earth rotate and revolve.
 It takes 24 for the Earth to rotate on its axis.
 It takes 1 year (365 days) for Earth to revolve around the sun.
 The moon’s period of rotation and period of revolution is about 29.5 days. As a
result, the moon shows the same side (hemisphere) to Earth at all times.
Lesson 3 - What are Moon Phases?

 Moon appears to change shape during its phases and it completes all of its
phases approximately every 29 days.
 There is about 1 week from the new moon phase to the first quarter moon and
about 2 weeks between the full moon and new moon phases.
 What does the moon look like from Earth?
Moon is lit up and appears to have dark spots.
 What is moon made up of?
- Dust, rocks, craters, mountains, and valleys.
 Why does the moon appear to move across the sky?
- Because Earth is rotating on its axis.
 Why does the moon appear lit at night?
- Because it reflects light from the sun. Moon is made up of rocky sub-
stances, similar to Earth, so it does not make its own light.
 Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on Earth’s moon.
 The moon is Earth’s satellite.
 Satellite is an object that moves around another larger object in space.
 Earth’s moon is the largest and brightest object in the night sky.
 The moon looks large because it is close to Earth.
 But the moon is small compared to Earth. It is one-fourth the size of Earth.
 The moon has no air, wind, or liquid water.
 We see the moon because light from the sun reflects from it and back to Earth.
 The pull of the Earth’s gravity keeps the moon in it orbit around the Earth.
 We see only one side of the moon from Earth because the moon takes the
same amount of time to rotate once as it does to orbit Earth once.
 By studying the features of the moon, scientists can learn more about what
makes up the universe and how objects move together in space.
 What are the characteristics of the moon’s surface?
- The moon is covered in craters, mountains, plains and chunks of rocks
and dust.
 How are the Moon and Earth alike?
- Both are objects in space.
 - Both have craters, mountains, and plains.
 How are the Moon and Earth different?
- The moon revolves around Earth and it is smaller than Earth.
- Earth has liquid water, air and living things.
 Rocks and chunks of debris from space slammed into the moon and formed
many craters (pits in the ground). Craters cover the moon’s rocky surface.
 There are mountains and large, flat plains. The plains on the moon’s surface
are called Maria (Latin word meaning “seas”).

Moon Phases

 What causes the moon’s appearance to change in the night sky?

- As the moon revolves around the Earth, different amounts of it lit side
can be seen from Earth.
 What do you see from Earth when there is a new moon?
- During the new moon, you cannot see the moon from Earth because the
moon is between Earth and the sun.
 What do you see from Earth when there is a full moon?
- During the full moon, the moon appears to look like a big, round ball.
 What are the positions of the sun, Earth and the moon during a full moon?
- The Earth is between the sun and the moon.
 During a first quarter moon, we see one-half of the moons have lit side.
 Why are the phases of the moon visible in the night sky?
- The moon reflects light from the sun.
 How does the moon’s position affect its phases?
- As the moon orbits around Earth, the portion of the moon’s lit surface
that we see from Earth changes.
 The moon’s shape does not change.
 The changes in the appearance of the moon’s shape are known as moon
phases.
 Sunlight reflects from the moon to Earth. Yet the sun lights only half of the
moon at any time.
 The motions of the Earth and the moon are responsible for the phases you
see. In other words, the phases are caused by the moon’s position in relation
to Earth.
 As the moon revolves around the Earth, the amount of the lit part that we see
from Earth changes. These different amounts of the moon’s lighted side are
the different phases of the moon.
 Each phase of the moon has a different shape.
 It takes about 1 month for the moon to complete all of its phases. Then the cy-
cle repeats.
 During the new moon phase, we can’t see the moon because the lit part of the
moon faces away from Earth.
 As the moon moves in its orbit around Earth, we see more of the moon’s lit
part.
 We see a full moon when all of the lit part of the moon faces Earth.
 Then we see less and less of the lit part again.
 How do a first-quarter moon and a third-quarter moon differ?
- The portion of the moon’s lit surface that is visible from Earth is re-
versed from right to left.
 Although in the first-quarter and third-quarter moons only one-fourth of the
moon is lit, we actually see one-half of the surface from Earth. This is because
we cannot see the back half (far side) of the moon from Earth.
 A solar calendar is based on Earth’s orbit around the sun. It can be used to
keep track of the months of the year.
 The lunar calendar is based on the repeating pattern of the moon’s phases. It
can be used to keep track of the moon’s phases.

Summary

The Moon’s features

- No air or liquid water
- Craters
- Mountains
- Flat plains
 - Revolves around Earth

Phases of the Moon

 New Moon (can’t see the moon)
 First Quarter Moon
 Full Moon (see the entire moon)
 Third Quarter Moon
Lesson 4 – How Does Technology Help Us Learn About Space?

 In what ways were the early astronomers limited in their ability to study
space?
- They could only view objects in space with just their eyes; they did not
have telescope.
 How did Galileo’s invention change the way astronomers could observe ob-
jects in space?
- The telescope made objects in space appear closer and larger.
 Early astronomers believed that Earth was the center of the universe.
 A telescope is a tool that uses lenses to make faraway objects appear closer
and larger.
 By 1600s, scientists knew that the sun was the center of the solar system. They
had also observed five other planets with telescope.

Humans on the Moon

 In 1957, Russia sent the satellite Sputnik into space.
 In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged NASA. He wanted the
United States to be the first country to put a human on the moon. This started
the space race.
 During the late 1960s and early 1970s the United States sent nine Apollo
spacecrafts to the moon. Six of those spacecrafts landed on the moon’s sur-
face.
 Both the US and Russia launched space probes. Space probes are vehicles that
move through space, but are controlled from Earth. They take photos of far-
away objects and send the data back to Earth.
 Soon observatories with large telescope were built around the world.
 Gemini 7 space capsule took 2 astronauts on a 14-day orbit around Earth.
 Why do you think it is necessary for astronauts to wear space suits on the
moon?
- The moon has no air, so astronauts would need a space suit to breathe.
- It is cold on the moon, so astronauts must keep warm.
 What difficulties do you think astronauts would have traveling in a space cap-
sule?
- They would need to bring enough food and water to live.
- They would need air to breathe.
- They would not have lots of room to move around.
- There are lots of dangers traveling in space
 Moon is the only object in space that humans have actually visited. What do
you think might limit the places that humans can visit in space?
 Humans can only travel to places that are close to Earth.
 It would be hard to take along enough food and water on long trips.
 Many planets would not be suitable for human to land on.

Technology in Space

 International Space Station is a giant space lab that orbits Earth. Astronauts
from 16 countries live, conduct experiment, and gather data.
 The Hubble Space Telescope orbits in space. It takes pictures of space that are
not possible to get from Earth.
- The Hubble can view planets up close
- Can view stars far away.
- Can view distant galaxies.
 Space probes have travelled past the edge of our solar system.
 The first space probe visited nearby planets such as Mars and Venus.
 Space probes take pictures and send them back to Earth.
 Viking was the first space probe to successfully land on Mars in 1976.
 It could get information about the surface of Mars and what it is made
up of.

Florida’s Role in Space

 The Space Age began in Florida in the early 1960s. The launch of the satellite
Sputnik signaled the beginning of the space age.
 Florida’s space center was known as Cape Canaveral.
 Each of the moon missions launched from Florida’s coast.
 In 1963, NASA’s headquarters was renamed in honor of President John F.
Kennedy.
 One of the most important buildings at the Kennedy Space Center is the Vehi-
cle Assembly Building.
- It is where rockets are built.
 Many people work at the Kennedy Space Center.
- Engineers design and build rockets.
- Scientists study data brought back by astronauts and space probes.

Space Technology in Every Home

 Much of the technology used in our home comes from the space program.
 These technologies are known as space “spin-offs.”
- Cordless power drill
- Athletic shoes
- The material used to coat the inside of nonstick pots and pans.
- Beverage cooler
- Freeze-dried foods (dried strawberries in cereal)
- “Cool suit” under a racecar driver’s uniform.