Phases Of The Moon

1. Phases Of The Moon D. Crowley, 2007

2. Phases Of The Moon • To know what causes the phases of the moon

3. Which Seasons? • Copy the diagram of the Earth orbiting the sun into your book • The diagram shows the Earth around the sun during different seasons, but they are not labeled - can you add Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter? North - you are here! Autumn S N N Winter - UK furthest from sun Summer - UK nearest to sun S S Hint: - UK is in northern hemisphere Nearer UK is to sun, the warmer it is Earth is at different distances to sun during different seasons N Spring S

4. The Moon • Draw a sketch of the moon in your book • The moon can be drawn differently, because it appears to vary its shape every month • Why is it varying its shape so much? • In fact, what is the moon - could we live on it?

5. Moon • Moons are heavenly bodes which orbit other planets • Gravity of the Earth keeps our moon in orbit • Earth has one moon, but some planets have many of them • Earth’s moon has no atmosphere, so we could not live on it - in fact Earth’s Moon is pretty boring - just a big lump of rock with lots of impact craters! • We only see the Moon because it reflects sunlight • It takes the moon 28 days to orbit the Earth As the Moon orbits the Earth we see different amounts of it - the different phases of the Moon. We can only see the part of the Moon which reflects sunlight, and this depends on where the Moon is during its orbit around the Earth

6. Phases As the Moon orbits the Earth we see different amounts of it - the different phases of the Moon. We can only see the part of the Moon which reflects sunlight (the illuminated side), and this depends on where the Moon is during its orbit around the Earth

7. Why the shapes? New Moon Waxing Crescent First Quarter Waxing Gibbous Full Moon Waning Gibbous Last Quarter Waning Crescent Copy the shapes of the Moon into your books, and write a sentence explaining why we see the Moon in different phases - clue: orbit & sunlight

8. Moon Phases • We see the moon because it reflects sunlight. The phases of the moon depend on how much of the illuminated side of the moon we can see - if the illuminated side completely faces Earth we call this a full moon. If we can see none of the illuminated side, we call this a new moon. The phases in between have varying levels of reflected light reaching the Earth Full moon - illuminated side completely faces Earth New moon - illuminated side does not face Earth

9. Common Mistake • Be careful - many people think that the Earth stops light getting to the Moon, and this is what causes the phases. This is incorrect - however if this does happen we get an eclipse of the Moon: -

10. All About The Moon • Complete the worksheet “All about the Moon”, and stick it into your books • If you complete this, have a go at the space crossword

11. All About The Moon The Moon is a round ball of rock. It orbits around the Earth once every 28 days. The Moon does not make its own light. We can only see it because it reflects light from the Sun. The Moon seems to be different shapes at different times of the month. These shapes are called phases of the Moon. When the Moon looks like a complete circle, we call it a full Moon. The Moon has no atmosphere, so nothing can live on it. Astronauts on the Moon have to bring their own oxygen and food. Day time on Earth Moon’s orbit We can see this side of the Moon Sunlight Dark side of the Moon Night time on Earth

12. Crossword

13. Moon Landing • Pictures of the Apollo moon landings (from a satellite in moon orbit, 2009)

14. Moon Landing • Pictures of the Apollo 14 moon landings showing equipment + footpath (from a satellite in moon orbit, 2009)