Earth and Space

Day and Night (earths rotation)

  • there is an imaginary line through the centre of the earth called the axis

  • the axis extends from north to south

  • the axis is at a tilt of 23.5 degrees

Day and Night

  • only half of the planet earth faces the sun at any one time, the side facing the sun is in daytime

  • the side facing away from the sun is in darkness and so is nighttime

  • so it takes 24 hours for the earth to rotate once on its axis

  • New Zealand is on the opposite side of the world

The Seasons

Have you ever wondered why we have different seasons?

  • This is because Earth's axis is tilted.

  • This tilt gives Earth its seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter.

  • When the northern hemisphere of the Earth is tilted away from the Sun, people in the these regions are experiencing winter.

Seasons in the Northern Hemisphere

  • the seasons are created through the combination of the earths revolution and the tilt of the axis

  • when the northern hemisphere of the earth is tilted away from the sun people in these regions are experiencing winter

  • when the northern hemisphere of the earth is tilted towards the sun people in these regions are experiencing summer

In Ireland we are in the northern hemisphere in winter were tilted away from the sun, it is colder the mights are longer and the days are shorter. the earth continues to move in a path around the sun, the days in the northern hemisphere get longer and warmer until it becomes spring. the northern hemisphere continues on its orbit tilted more towards the sun, until the longest summer days in june.

after summer earths orbit means it begins tilting away from the sun again. the days get shorter and colder as we move into autumn.the days keep getting shorter and colder until the northern hemisphere is tilted the furthest from the sun then it becomes winter once again, this is a complete orbit of the sun and as a new year starts the seasons start all over again.

Phases of the Moon

The Solar System (order of planets)

  1. mercury

  2. venus

  3. earth

  4. mars

  5. jupiter

  6. saturn

  7. uranus

  8. neptune

My

Very

Enthusiastic

Mother

Just

Served

Us

Nachos

Rocky and Gas Planets

Rocky Planets

  • they are the four planets closest to the sun

  • mercury is the smallest planet its dry and rocky

  • earth is our planet it has one moon

  • venus is covered in hot poisonous gases, it has volcanoes and is the hottest

  • mars is known as the red planet it has 2 moons and can be covered by dust storms

Gas Planets

  • there are four larger gas planets

  • jupiter is the largest planet it is a giant ball of gas with 50 moons

  • saturn is a large planet made of mainly gas it has over 60 moons and 7 rings made of rocks and ice

Gas Giants

  • uranus is an icy planet which spins

  • neptune is the furthest away from the sun it is a very cold planet with 13 moons

Space Rocks

Comets

  • gas tails

  • dirty snowballs

  • frozen gas

  • dust

  • rocks

  • orbits the sun

Asteroid

  • left from when the solar system formed

  • rocks or metal

  • it can be the size of a rock to a car

  • between mars and jupiter

  • asteroid belt

Meteoroids

  • can become a meteorite

  • asteroids comets and moons collide

Meteor

  • called shooting stars

  • rock or metal

  • falls through the earths atmosphere

Meteorites

  • pieces of a meteoroid

  • rock or metal

  • lands on earth