Earth–Sun–Moon System
This rotation of Earth causes day and night.
What is Earth’s rotation on its axis?
This moon phase occurs when it is positioned between Earth and the sun.
What is a new moon?
This describes the four inner rocky planets are closest to the sun.
What are terrestrial planets?
This force pulls all matter toward each other.
What is gravity?
Engineers create this during the first draft of a design.
What is a prototype?
This is the term for the path an object takes around another.
What is an orbit?
This term describes the moon changing from a small lit part to a larger one.
What is waxing?
This force keeps planets orbiting the sun.
What is the sun’s gravitational pull?
You would weigh the most on this planet due to its strong gravity.
What is Jupiter?
This is calculated by multiplying mass by speed.
What is momentum?
Seasons occur on Earth because of this tilt as it moves around the sun.
What is Earth being tilted on its axis?
A solar eclipse requires this specific alignment of three objects.
What is Sun – Moon – Earth?
This planet is the largest and has the most moons.
What is Jupiter?
Gravitational strength depends on these two factors.
What are the masses of the objects and the distance between them?
Spacecraft shields reduce damage from debris in this way.
How do they slow momentum or absorb energy before it hits?
The moon completes this journey around Earth in about 29.5 days.
What is one Lunar orbit (or one month)?
During a lunar eclipse, the moon looks red because of this.
What is Earth’s atmosphere bending sunlight and filtering red light?
A single scale model can’t accurately show both planetary size and distance due to this.
What is the extreme difference in sizes and distances?
Astronauts in the ISS appear weightless because of this.
What is free fall while orbiting Earth?
Rockets lifting off the ground illustrate this of Newton’s laws.
What is Newton’s Third Law (action and reaction)?
Solar and lunar eclipses don’t happen every month due to this orbital tilt.
What is the moon’s 5° tilt relative to Earth’s orbit?
Starting with the new moon, these are the eight phases of the moon in order.
What are new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent?
This planet has the longest year because it is farthest from the sun.
What is Neptune?
An object weighing 100 N on Earth weighs about this much on Mars.
What is 38 N?
Tiny objects like paint flecks are dangerous in space for this reason.
What is their high speed and kinetic energy during collisions?