Earth, Sun and Moon

by Stephen

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Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
Carl Sagan

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?
Richard P. Feynman

My son is in Year 5, and at school he is currently learning about the Earth, Sun and Moon, which is Unit 5E of the QCA Science Scheme of Work. For me this was always one of the most exciting science topics (and I have to declare a personal interest here, as I went on to study astronomy later in life).

I believe it’s an area of science that is intrinsically fascinating, and although light pollution is a growing problem for many of us, the night-sky is a (free) natural resource that can provide a jumping-off point for many useful science discussions. An hour’s star-gazing can lead quickly to some of the most fundamental questions that science tries to answer: How big is the universe? How old is it? What is our place in it? One of my earliest scientific discussions was debating (aged 6) whether the sun was a star or not (luckily I was on the right side of that argument!).

As with many branches of science there are lots of misconceptions (many of which are seem perfectly reasonable on the surface). Here is a list of many such misconceptions (note that all of the statements in the list are false). Some key ones that used to trip me up:

• We experience seasons because of the Earth’s changing distance from the Sun
• The far side of the Moon is always in darkness

One of the things about the Earth, Sun and Moon topic is the difficulty of explaining and imagining the complex interplay of the star, planet and satellite – how they rotate and orbit; what leads to the rising and setting, and the phases.

Here are some Earth, Sun and Moon resources from the BBC website, including a Flash activity. Here is a link to one of the NASA education sites, with a lot of resources and lesson plans that also relate to this topic.

Below are two videos from Heinemann Video Gallery that include animations and graphics of the solar system, and hopefully help to illustrate the way the planetary bodies interact.

Title of clip	The relative sizes of the sun, Earth and moon
Curriculum location	Primary Module B > Science > Year 5 > Unit 5E: Earth, Sun and Moon > Section 3: Size and distance
Description	Images to illustrate the proportions and structure of the solar system, with voiceover: the moon in the night sky; a satellite shot of Earth from space; the burning surface of the sun; a computer graphic showing the solar system, with each planet’s orbit around the sun drawn in a different colour; all of the planets of the solar system in order of their distance from the sun and showing their relative sizes.
Duration	54 seconds

 

Title of clip	The Earth’s orbit around the sun
Curriculum location	Primary Module B > Science > Year 5 > Unit 5E: Earth, Sun and Moon > Section 7: The Earth’s orbit
Description	The earth orbiting the sun, with voiceover asking questions about the Earth’s orbit and revolution on its axis: animation of a sun-centred solar system with planets following their elliptical orbits, each planet orbiting at a different rate around the sun; the animation focuses on planet Earth as it revolves around the sun, also showing a comet’s trajectory; time-lapse satellite image of the Earth rotating on its axis; satellite imagery of the Red Sea and African desert, with shadows highlighting mountain ranges; the Earth slowly rotates, the sun reflecting off an ocean; the Earth as seen from the surface of the moon, showing half of the Earth lit up and the rest in darkness.
Duration	1 minute 5 seconds

 

Please note that these are example clips provided through our YouTube channel and do not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Gone Too Soon: Earth 2
• First rocky planet found outside solar system
• Remembering Apollo 8, Man’s First Trip to the Moon