Reasons for the Seasons
The longest day and shortest day of the year.
What is solstice.
When the moon is shrinking towards a new moon.
What is waning.
The very darkest part of the moon's shadow.
What is umbra.
Most of the sun’s energy is a result of?
What is Fusion.
A pattern or group of stars that people imagined to represent a figure, animal, or object.
What is a constellation
The Earth's north pole is always tilted towards...
What is polaris (the North Star).
About how long does it take for the moon to go through one full cycle of phases (new moon to new moon)?
About 28 days.
Occurs when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun, blocking sunlight from Earth.
What is a solar eclipse.
The areas of gas on the sun's surface that are cooler than the gases around them.
What is Sunspots.
This causes day and night as different sides of Earth face toward and away from the sun.
What is rotation.
It is currently winter in Idaho, which means it is ________ in the southern hemisphere.
What is summer.
Why do we always see the same side of the moon?
What is because the Earth and moon are tidally locked?
The only moon phase where a lunar eclipse can occur.
What is full moon.
The light produced when charged particles from solar wind react with Earth magnetic field
What is Aurora?
Why don't we see lunar and solar eclipses every month?
Moon's orbit wobbles by 5 degrees so the Moon's shadow and Earth's shadow usually miss each other.
How long does it take Earth to complete one revolution? One rotation?
One revolution around the sun is 365 days and one rotation is 24 hours (1 day).
The moon phase that is seen when the moon is nearest to the sun.
What is the New Moon.
The only moon phase where a solar eclipse can occur.
What is a new moon.
A sudden outward eruption of electrically charged particles from the sun
What is a solar flare?
What is a path of totality?
The path the moon's umbra will follow during a solar eclipse (aka where you will see a full solar eclipse).
Explain why we experience seasons on Earth.
Earth's seasons are caused by the tilt of Earth on its axis as it revolves around the sun. As a result the Northern and Southern Hemispheres receive different amounts of direct and indirect sunlight throughout the year.
Why do we see different moon phases from Earth?
As the moon revolves around Earth we see different angles of the half lit up portion resulting in moon phases.
Explain why solar eclipses are more rare than lunar eclipses.
The moon is smaller than Earth and casts a smaller shadow making solar eclipses more rare.
The Earth revolves around the sun because...
The sun has more mass and more gravity than Earth.
We always see the same side of the moon from Earth because...
What is synchronized rotation and revolution of the moon around Earth.