Earth and Moon

• The moon does not make it's own light, it reflects the light of the sun
• The moon is Earth's closets neighbor
• Earth and Moon rocks are similar
• Moon has no air or atmosphere
• Moon has extreme temperatures that make it impossible to live
• There are a few tall mountains and flat plains, but mostly craters

 

• Crater-like a hole in the ground
• meteoroids are large rocks that travel through space, when they crash into a planet they can form craters
• Earth's atmosphere burns up most meteoroids before they hit Earth

 

• The Moon revolves around Earth
• Moon's orbit around Earth takes 29 days (1 month)

 

• Early calendars were based on motion of the Moon
• Apparent shapes of the Moon in the sky are called phases

 

 

• Moon has gravity that pulls on Earth, when the Earth faces the Moon, the land and water are pulled a little by the Moon's gravity
• The Moon has more pull on the Earth because it is closer than the sun
• Moon pulls on water to make tides (water rises higher or lower)
• Eclipse-shadow cast by earth or moon
• Lunar eclipse-Earth casts a shadow on the moon

 

• Solar Eclipse-Moon casts a shadow on Earth

 

• Only a lunar eclipse is safe to watch