The Earth, Sun, and Moon are things we see almost every day, but do you know some cool facts about them? Let’s explore these amazing space objects!
Earth is where we all live. It’s a pretty big planet with a diameter of 7,926 miles. That’s like driving across the United States almost three times! Earth is about 93 million miles away from the Sun, which is just the right distance to keep us warm and cozy.
The average temperature on Earth is 57 degrees Fahrenheit, which is perfect for life. Our atmosphere, the layer of gases around Earth, is mostly made of nitrogen and oxygen, which we need to breathe.
Earth spins around once every 23 hours and 56 minutes. This spinning is why we have day and night. The Earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees, which is why we have different seasons.
The Moon is Earth’s closest neighbor in space. It has a diameter of 2,160 miles, which is about one-quarter the size of Earth. If you stretched the Moon out, it would be almost as long as Australia from top to bottom!
The Moon is about 238,993 miles away from Earth. During the day, the Moon’s surface can get really hot, up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, but it doesn’t have an atmosphere like Earth does.
A lunar month, which is the time it takes for the Moon to go around Earth, is 29 days and 13 hours long. The Moon’s axis is tilted just 1.5 degrees.
The Sun is a giant ball of hot gas at the center of our solar system. Its diameter is a whopping 864,938 miles, making it about 109 times wider than Earth!
The Sun is super hot, with surface temperatures reaching nearly 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes about 25 days and 9 hours for the Sun to spin around once.
The Sun is really old, around 4.6 billion years! That’s a lot of birthdays!
So, how do the Earth, Moon, and Sun compare in size? If we made models where one inch equals 2,500 miles, the Sun would be 346 inches wide, which is more than 28 feet! The Earth would be about three inches wide, and the Moon would be less than one inch wide.
Even though Earth feels big to us, next to the Sun, it’s much smaller!
Isn’t it amazing how these three space objects work together to create the world we know? Keep exploring and learning about our universe!
Create a Solar System Model: Gather some craft supplies like clay or playdough, and create a model of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. Use the scale mentioned in the article where one inch equals 2,500 miles. Try to make the Sun, Earth, and Moon to scale. Once your model is ready, discuss with your friends or family how these objects move in space and how their sizes compare.
Day and Night Experiment: Use a flashlight to represent the Sun and a small ball to represent the Earth. In a dark room, shine the flashlight on the ball and slowly rotate the ball. Observe how the light creates day on one side and night on the other. Discuss why we have day and night and how the Earth’s rotation affects this cycle.
Seasons and Tilt Exploration: Take a globe or a ball and tilt it at an angle of about 23.5 degrees. Use a lamp to represent the Sun and move the globe around the lamp. Notice how the tilt affects the amount of light different parts of the globe receive. Discuss how this tilt causes the different seasons we experience on Earth.
**The Earth, Sun, and Moon**
The Earth, Sun, and Moon are all very familiar to us, but how much do we actually know about them?
– Earth’s diameter is 7,926 miles, and its distance from the Sun is about 93 million miles.
– The average surface temperature on Earth is 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
– The atmosphere is mostly made up of nitrogen and oxygen.
– It takes the Earth 23 hours and 56 minutes to complete a full rotation, and the tilt of its axis is 23.5 degrees.
The Moon’s diameter is 2,160 miles, which is almost the length of Australia from north to south. This means the Moon’s width is about one quarter of the Earth’s.
– Its average distance from the Earth is 238,993 miles.
– The surface temperature of the Moon is 250 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and it has no atmosphere.
– A lunar month is 29 days and 13 hours long, and the tilt of the Moon’s axis is 1.5 degrees.
The Sun’s diameter is 864,938 miles, which is about 109 times the diameter of Earth.
– As you might have guessed, the Sun is very hot, with surface temperatures reaching almost 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
– It takes 25 days and 9 hours for the Sun to complete a full rotation.
– The Sun has been around for a very long time; scientists believe it is about 4.6 billion years old.
So, the Sun is bigger than the Earth, which is bigger than the Moon, but how much bigger? If we built scale models using a scale of one inch equals 2,500 miles, then the Sun’s diameter would be 346 inches, which is more than 28 feet.
– The Earth’s diameter would be about three inches, and the Moon’s diameter would be less than one inch.
The Earth is a big planet, big enough for us all to live on, but next to the Sun, doesn’t it seem so much smaller?
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