Astronomy Quest

Waxing

 light goes from right to left (growing)

Waning

 light goes from left to right (decreasing)

Formation of Earth’s moon

• Earth slammed into another early planet, the debris accumulated and orbited the earth, creating the moon

Moon characteristics

• Once governed in magma, but now dry with dust and rocks

• Has craters because there was once living things covering the craters, but with no magma, nothing moves or goes away

• Same side of the moon always faces the Earth because it rotates at the same rate, so we always see the same face of the moon

Moon Phases from Earth and the Sun

• The amount of light we see hitting the moon from Earth causes the moon phases

• If we saw the moon from the sun, it would always be full because as the moon orbits the earth, one face of the moon will always be illuminated from the sun

• We can see the moon from Earth depending on the moon stage

Solar eclipse

occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking sunlight. Moon casts a shadow on Earth

Lunar eclipse

occurs when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, causing the Earth's shadow to fall on the Moon. It results in the moon appearing red or darkened due to the Earth's atmosphere filtering sunlight.

Sun

The star which other planets orbit

Planets

A celestial body that orbits a star, enough mass for gravity to overcome solid-body forces, has a nearly round shape, and has cleared its orbital path of other debris

Dwarf Planets

smaller than a planet, has not cleared its orbit

Moons

objects that orbits a planet or dwarf planet

Asteroid belt

 located in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, contains thousands of small rocks

Kuiper Belt

 Located beyond the orbit of Neptune, contains planetesimals and other small objects that are debris from the start of our solar system

Formation of the Solar System

• Formed 4.6 billion years ago after a start exploded called a nebula which is made up of gas and dust

• Debrie started to accumulate because of gravity and form planets and the sun

Scale of distances of planets

• Mercury, venus, Earth, and Mars are all close together near the sun = terrestrial and rocky planets

• Jupiter, saturn, uranus, and neptune are more far apart and farther from the sun = gas giants

Timeline of the universe

• Big Bang = 13.8 billion years ago

• Formation of the universe = 4.6 billion years ago

Big bang, First atoms, first stars, milky way forms, sun and solar system forms, first life on earth, dinosaurs appear, humans appear

Asteroid

A small rocky body that orbits the sun, primarily found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and can vary in size and composition.

Comet

A celestial object made of ice, dust, and rocky particles that, when close to the sun, displays a visible atmosphere and sometimes a tail.