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year. A planet's year is the time it takes to make one complete orbit around the Sun. The Earth goes once round the Sun in one Earth year. That's 365 Earth days.
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year A planet's year is the time it takes to make one complete orbit around the Sun. The Earth goes once round the Sun in one Earth year. That's 365 Earth days. We've seen already that different planets take different lengths of time to orbit the Sun. That means their years are different lengths. Mercury has a year of just 88 Earth days, and Neptune has a year of 164 Earth years. Seasons.
seasons The Earth's axis is the imaginary line through the centre of the Earth between the South and North poles. This axis is tilted slightly compared to the way the Earth orbits the Sun. We get different seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn) because the Earth is tilted. This is how it works: When the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun it is summer in the UK. When the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun it is winter in the UK.
Day and night Because of the tilt of the Earth's axis the Sun moves higher in the sky in summer, when we tilt towards it, than in winter. The sun seems to move across the sky during the day because the Earth is spinning. The stars do exactly the same thing. They seem to move a across the sky at night. We can photograph it happening.
Seasons facts The axis of the Earth is tilted, which means that in summer we (in the UK) are leaning towards the Sun. As we travel around the Sun, we begin to tilt away and it becomes winter.
Name the four seasons. Are the Earth's seasons caused by the differences in the distance from the Sun throughout the year or the tilt of the Earth's axis? What is the tilt of the Earth's axis (in degrees)? During which season do the Sun's rays hit the Earth at the most direct angle? During which season are the days the shortest? 6. What is the name of the shortest day of the year (and the beginning of winter)? What is the name of the longest day of the year (and the beginning of summer)? What is the name of a day in which the day and night are of equal duration? 9. How many times each year do we have days in which the day and night are of equal duration? 10. What are the names of each of these days?
