The Moon
What causes lunar phases?
The Moon’s position relative to Earth and the Sun.
What causes tides?
The Moon’s gravity pulling on Earth’s oceans.
What is a galaxy?
A massive group of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity.
Name the largest planet.
Jupiter
What is gravity?
A force that attracts objects with mass toward each other.
Name the Moon phase during a solar eclipse.
New Moon
What keeps Earth in orbit around the Sun?
The Sun’s gravitational pull.
What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?
Spiral galaxy
What are gas giants? Can you name them?
Large planets made mostly of gases like hydrogen and helium. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
What is a nebula?
A cloud of gas and dust in space where stars and planets can form.
How long is a full lunar cycle?
About 29.5 days
What causes a solar eclipse?
The Moon blocks the Sun’s light by moving between the Sun and Earth.
How do galaxies form?
From collapsing clouds of gas and dust in space.
Name the inner planets.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
Why is the Sun important?
It provides energy and gravity to keep the solar system in motion.
Why don’t eclipses happen every month?
The Moon’s orbit is tilted.
How does gravity affect tides?
It causes water to bulge toward and away from the Moon, creating tides.
What causes galaxies to move apart?
The expansion of the universe
How do planets stay in orbit?
Gravity from the Sun keeps them in orbit.
What tool helps us study space?
Describe how a lunar eclipse occurs.
Earth moves between the Sun and Moon, casting a shadow on the Moon.
Why does the Moon have less gravity than Earth?
The Moon has much less mass than Earth.
What evidence supports the Big Bang Theory?
Redshift of galaxies and cosmic microwave background radiation.
Compare inner and outer planets.
Inner are small, rocky, and close to the Sun; outer are large, gaseous, and farther away.
How do mass and distance affect gravity?
More mass increases gravity; more distance weakens it.