Key Terms
This word names an object that orbits a planet or star.
Satellite
The name for when the Moon is fully lit as seen from Earth.
Full Moon
The colourful lights sometimes seen in northern skies are called this.
Auroras (Northern Lights)
When your part of Earth is tilted toward the Sun, what usually happens to day length?
Days are longer and nights are shorter.
The movement of the Earth spinning on its axis is called this.
Rotation
The Moon phase when we cannot see the Moon from Earth because its lit side faces away.
New Moon
This happens when Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, casting Earth's shadow on the Moon.
Lunar Eclipse
In northern regions, the term for when the Sun is visible even at midnight in summer.
Midnight Sun
The movement of Earth around the sun.
Revolution
This phase occurs about one week after a new moon when half the Moon is lit on the right (in the Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter
This happens when the Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, sometimes blocking the Sun.
Solar Eclipse
List three nocturnal animals (any correct examples).
Examples: owl, bat, raccoon (any three correct nocturnal animals accepted)
This term describes observable events in space, such as Moon phases, eclipses, and auroras.
Astronomical Phenomena
The term for when the lit portion of the Moon is getting larger each night.
Waxing
A cyclical astronomical phenomenon that repeats on a regular schedule. Name it.
The Moon’s phases repeating (Moon phases)
Explain in two or three sentences how seasonal changes can affect agriculture.
Seasonal changes affect temperature, daylight, and precipitation, which influence planting and harvesting times, crop growth rates, and what crops will thrive. Farmers plan planting and harvesting to match favorable seasons.
This term marks the start of summer or winter when the Sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon.
Solstice
How long it takes for the Moon to go through a full cycle of phases.
About a month
Explain briefly why we have different lengths of day and night during the year (one or two sentences).
Earth’s tilt causes different angles of sunlight and lengths of daylight as Earth orbits the Sun; when a hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, days are longer there, and when it tilts away, days are shorter.
Describe how the Moon affects ocean tides (one to three sentences).
The Moon’s gravity pulls on Earth's oceans; the pull creates bulges (high tides) on the side of Earth facing the Moon and on the opposite side, causing regular rises and falls of sea level (tides).