Definitions
What is an orbit?
The axial tilt is 23.5 degrees.
What is the angle of Earth's tilt?
The imaginary lines that run east-west around the Earth.
What is latitude?
The Moon cannot be seen in the night sky.
What is a New Moon?
When the Moon falls between the Sun and Earth during its monthly orbit.
The measure of how much light energy is hitting a surface.
What is light intensity?
It takes Earth approximately 24 hours to complete one full rotation on its axis.
What is the length of one day on Earth?
The day length is longer on average and the Sun appears higher in the sky (more direct sunlight through the day).
The Moon reflects the Sun's light and we see different portions of the Moon due to its relative positioning between the Earth and Sun.
How do we get the different phases of the Moon?
When a Full Moon travels behind the Earth during its monthly orbit and becomes shadowed by the Earth.
What is a lunar eclipse?
When the day length and night length are approximately equal.
What is the equinox?
The rotation of the Earth on its axis.
What causes day and night?
The further you are from the equator, the higher your latitude.
How does latitude change from the equator to the poles?
We experience two high tides and two low tides approximately every 24 hours.
What is an umbra versus a penumbra?
When the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth during its monthly orbit.
What is perigee?
One side of the Earth is facing away from the Sun, meaning it is not receiving light from the Sun, so it is night time.
The Sun appears lower on the horizon at noon in a place like Otago compared to Auckland.
How does increasing latitude affect the path of the Sun in the sky?
A tidal bulge is created as the Earth's oceans are pulled towards the Moon. Waters perpendicular to the Moon are squeezed.
What is tidal force?
The duration of time where a celestial body is completely eclipsed.
What is totality?
An exceptionally high tide that causes the highest sea levels for a particular location in a given year
As Earth rotates your location is carried towards the Sun's light. From our perspective the Sun appears to emerge from the Eastern horizon. The rotation continues, and eventually, our part of the Earth moves away from the Sun’s light and into the planet’s shadow. The make the sun appear to dip below the western horizon.
What causes sunrise and sunset?
Daylength is approximately equal to night time and Earth is relatively close to the Sun during its orbit.
What is spring and autumn?
When the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned during a New and Full Moon, combining the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon, producing a higher tidal range.
What is a spring tide?
Eclipses do not happen every time the Sun, Moon and Earth align because the orbital planes are offset by 5 degrees.
Why do we only sometimes get eclipses?