Earth and Space Science
ESS.1.5OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE
Vocabulary
• Sun – The closest star to Earth• Earth – 1 of 8 planets orbiting the Sun• Moon – a natural satellite orbiting a planet
• Star – A ball of hot gas which produces heat and light. Stars come in different brightnesses and sizes.
• Planet – An object with its own gravity orbiting a star
• Solar System - A star and everything orbiting that star
• Galaxy – A huge collection of stars (millions and millions), gas and dust. Our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light years across.
• Universe – A collection of millions of galaxies• The Universe Video
Stars• Most stars are made of
hydrogen gas• The color of a star is
related to the temperature it is burning at
The hottest stars are white or blue
The cooler stars are orange or red
Brightness of a Star• How much energy a
star puts out is called luminosity
• Distance from Earth and luminosity determine how bright a star is. The farther away a star, the less bright it appears.
The Sun• Contains 98% of our Solar System’s mass• Right now the sun is about 90% hydrogen and
8% helium and 2% metal• The sun is about 4.5 billion years old• Mass:
1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg• Distance from Earth: 149,597,900 km • Rotates once about every 25 days
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Sun
The Earth• Earth is an English/German word
meaning ground• Third planet from the sun• About the same size as Venus• Mass:
5,972,190,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg• Orbits the sun every 365.26 Earth days
Much of Earth’s weather comes from the heating and cooling of water in the atmosphere
70% of Earth’s surface is covered by water
Earth Revolves Around the Sun
• Each year, Earth goes around the sun one time• Earth travels in an ellipse (not a perfect circle)
Geography for Kids Video
• Earth is tilted at an angle as it rotates around the sun
Animation of Earth’s annual orbit around the sun
The Moon
• A natural satellite in Earth’s orbit
• Other planets have moons also– Jupiter for example has
67 moons (4 large and 63 small)
• We don’t know how it was formed, but maybe Earth collided with another planet sized objects and the debris from the crash pulled together to form the moon
How Moon craters may have formed Video
• We always see the same side of the moon
Phases of the Moon
• The moon passes through 8 phases every 29.5 days
History Channel: Phases of the Moon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXseTWTZlks
Ask an Astronomer: Why Does the Moon Look Like it Changes?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdI1aDjWLlY
NEW MOON• The visible
moon is not fully illuminated by direct sunlight.
WAXING MOON• A waxing moon is when a moon appears to be
growing larger.
Waxing Crescent is less than ½ illuminated
Waxing Gibbous is more than ½ illuminated
First quarter
• This is when exactly ½ of the face of the moon is lit and the moon is still “growing”.
• Occurs between a waxing crescent and waxing gibbous
FULL MOON
• The visible moon is fully illuminated by direct sunlight.
WANING MOON• A waning moon is when a moon appears to be
getting smaller. Waning Gibbous is more than ½ lit and is getting smaller. Waning Crescent is less than ½
lit and is getting smaller.
Last or Third Quarter Moon
• This is when ½ the face of the moon is lit between a waning gibbous and waning crescent. The moon is getting smaller.
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