The Moon
It is important for students to learn about the Moon because it is an object found in the night sky that is clearly visible. The Moon, Earth's only natural satellite, is an object that orbits around the Earth and is not man made. The distance between the Earth and the Moon is approximately 384,403kilometers or 238,857miles. The Moon has no atmosphere, so if we were to stand on its surface, there would be no apparent sky. A full view of space could be seen without any molecules refracting the light.
From Earth, we see the Moon most easily at night. Since it has no light source of its own, the only way that we can see the Moon is through reflected sunlight. Although the Moon is round, like planet Earth, we actually only can see the side that is illuminated. The light that we see from the Moon is the result of the angle of the Moon as it orbits the Earth, and it produces the lunar phases.
Moon Phases
The Moon's orbital motion causes the lunar phases. The Moon takes approximately four weeks to revolve around the Earth. While the four weeks are passing, our view of the Moon is a cyclical pattern, which repeats every four weeks. There are eight phases: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent. As the Moon revolves around the Earth, the phases are seen during different times of the month following the pattern listen above. During a full Moon, the Sun illuminates the entire face of the Moon that faces the Earth and it looks like a perfect circle in the sky. As the month progresses, the illuminated half of the Moon turns around, and a smaller amount of the illuminated side of the Moon faces the Earth. Consequently, less of the Moon can be seen on the surface of the Earth. Eventually we get to a new Moon where the Sun is no longer illuminating the portion of the surface of the Moon that faces the Earth, and therefore we do not see anything in the sky. During part of the month, the Moon is out in daylight, and it is difficult to see because of the brightness of the sky. However, near Full Moon, we are able to see the Moon near the horizon just before sunset.
One lunar day is the same as four weeks, or one month. There are two types of months: Sidereal and Synodic. A Sidereal Month is the time it takes the Moon to orbit around the Earth one time; this is approximately 27.32 days long. The Synodic Month is the time it takes the Moon to return to the same phase. This time is approximately 29.53 days long.
Two types of eclipses occur when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned together in orbit. The Lunar Eclipse is when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth, and the Solar Eclipse is when the Earth passes through the shadow of the Moon.
The Moon does not have any atmosphere surrounding it. The surface of the Moon is in direct contact with the radiation from the Sun, and solar winds. Solar wind is a low density stream of charged particles that contains electrons and protons and travels outwards through space. When standing on the Moon's surface, when you look up at what would be the sky, there is no atmosphere blocking the view of space. Therefore, you are able to see clearly objects that would not be easily visible from Earth.
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