What causes Day
& Night?
The sun can only shine on one side of the Earth (or the moon) at a time. Look at this picture of the Earth & Moon to identify which sides are having night, and which sides are having day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980129.html (Where is the Sun in this picture?)
What do we mean by orbiting?
The Earth orbiting the Sun: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0408/es0408page01.cfm?chapter_no=04
NOTE the following: (To start this animation, click
on the "Play" button.)
Day & Night: The light blue
side of the Earth facing the Sun has "daytime," the dark blue side has
"nighttime."
Rotation of the Earth: The line through the Earth represents the axis of Earth's rotation.
Seasons on Earth: YouTube's Day & Night & the Seasons: Animated Guide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aftUjJswvaw
The Moon orbiting the Earth while the Earth is orbiting the Sun:
http://www2.biglobe.ne.jp/~norimari/science/JavaApp/e-SolarSys.html
Click on the "Start" button twice to start animation. NOTE the following: The pink lines are showing the
Earth's and Moon's velocities (direction and speed). Note how the moon's motion
seems faster when it is moving in the same direction as the Earth, and slower
when it is moving in the opposite direction. That's because (with respect to
the Sun) it is! Click on the "Strobo" button to seen the overall motion.
What do the
"Phases of the Moon" look like?
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/phases.html
NOTE the following: The shape of the "Dark side of the Moon" changes during the month.
When the moon is in its crescent phase, the dark side has a round shape. This leads some people to think that the dark side is the Earth's shadow projected onto the Moon. But look at the shape of the "dark side" when the moon is almost full. The "Dark side of the Moon" is not the shadow of the Earth onto the moon. It is actually the Moon's own shadow: the side of the Moon that is not facing the Sun.
What does the moon will look like today? Or on my birthday? Or on my anniversary?
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/vphase.html
To see today's phase, click on the moon.
If you were to go outside to see the
moon in that phase right now – which part of the sky will it be in?
If you were
to go out to see it this evening right after sunset, where will it be?
Where
will it be tonight at midnight?
Will it be changing shape during the night, or
just changing position?
Why does the moon phases change like that every 4
weeks?
So, why do we sometimes see a full moon, other times a quarter moon, etc.? It has to do with the Moon's position compared to the Sun's and the Moon's position.
http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses//astro201/moon_phase_pict.htm
For the next two questions, it is important to know that the Moon’s orbit about the Earth is tilted compared to the plane of the Earth’s orbit about the Sun.
What is a lunar
eclipse?
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/lunar/
To control the moon's motion: Click on the manual button, then use the slider to control the movement of the moon. Note: Lunar eclipses do not occur every month, because the moon's orbit is actually tilted with respect to the Earth's orbit about the Sun. Most of the time the moon is above or below the plane of Earth's orbit about the sun.
What is a solar
eclipse?
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/solar/
To control the moon's motion: Click on the manual button, then use the slider to control the movement of the moon. Note: Solar eclipses do not occur every month, because the moon's orbit is actually tilted with respect to the Earth's orbit about the Sun. Most of the time the moon is above or below the plane of Earth's orbit about the sun.
Other good sites:
Moon Phases (this site is in French, but visit it anyway - the graphics are great!)
The site: http://www.bigkidscience.com/MoonPhases/GoMoonPhases.html gives a nice complete interactive tutorial for way the moon looks like it does from Earth.
An Activity to do
with Kids:
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/teachers/moonglow.html