The Moon

The Moon

All about Earth's natural satellite!

What do you ALREADY know

about the moon?

Anything at all!?!

Open Ended

What do you already know about the moon?

Open Ended

What do you WANT to know about the moon?

Do you have any questions?

Some Facts about the Moon!

• The moon is a large natural satellite of Earth

• The moon is made of rock and metal (like the terrestrial planets)

• The moon formed when a Mars-sized object collided with Earth

• The moon has layers like Earth! It has a crust, mantle and core.

• The moon is larger than Pluto (and almost as big as Mercury)

• Humans first went to the moon in 1969

• ... and haven't gone again since 1972.

Multiple Choice

What year did humans first land on the moon?

• 1963

• 1969

• 1972

• 1989

Multiple Choice

What year did humans LAST land on the moon?

• 1963

• 1972

• 1997

• 2012

Multiple Choice

What is the moon made out of?

• dense gases

• rock and metal

• rock and ice

• cheese

How the moon

was made:

An object about the size of Mars collided with the Earth, knocking tons of debris into space. Gravity collected the debris into a large mass known as the moon.

Multiple Choice

How old is the moon?

• 4.5 million years

• 4.5 billion years

• 6.8 million years

• 100 million years

More Moon Facts:

Earth has the 5th largest moon in the solar system. It's about the same size as Jupiter's Galilean moons. That also happens to be about the size of central Europe (or the middle of China)!

Multiple Choice

True or False: The moon was once covered in molten rock, known as lava.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False: The moon's craters were caused by asteroids, meteors, and comets striking the surface.

• True

• False

Open Ended

What is a crater?

How big is the moon?

The moon is about the size of central China or the width of central Europe.

How far away is the moon?

The moon is about 380,000,000 km away from the Earth, on average. (That's roughly 250,000,000 miles)

It takes astronauts about 3 days to get to the moon.

( 30 Earths could fit between the Earth and the Moon )

Multiple Choice

True or False: About 30 Earths could fit between the Earth and the moon.

• True

• False

High & Low Tide

High and Low tide are what we call it when the ocean water seems to get higher and lower throughout the day. This is caused by the pull of gravity from the sun and moon.

Spring & Neap Tides

When the sun and moon are pulling in the same direction, it makes the high tides even higher. We call this a Spring Tide. The opposite is a Neap Tide.

Phases of the Moon

The phases of the moon, also called "Lunar Phases" (luna means moon). It takes the moon ~29.5 days to orbit the Earth - about one month.

Lunar Phases

The moon appears to change shape throughout the month. Half of the moon is ALWAYS lit by the sun, but the angle we see it at changes as it orbits the Earth, so we usually only see part of the lit side or shadow.

Lunar Phases

There are 8 distinct phases of the moon:

1. New – the new moon is not visible

2. Waxing Crescent – the Moon starts growing

3. First Quarter – the moon looks like half a circle

4. Waxing Gibbous – still growing

5. Full – we see the entire circle of the Moon lit up

6. Waning Gibbous – the Moon starts shrinking

7. Third Quarter – again only half a circle is visible

8. Waning Crescent – the Moon is about to disappear

9. New (again) – the new Moon is not visible

DIY: Do it yourself!

You can demonstrate the phases of the moon on your own using a lamp, a stick, and a round object. (You could also just hold a ball if you don't have those things).