THE SUN, MOON, AND EARTH
HOW FAR AWAY ARE THEY?
CAN THEY SUPPORT LIFE?
THE SUN •Really BIG star
•Burning ball of gases
•Gives life to Earth
• Planets revolve around the sun
SUN FACTS• Temperature: 9,932
degrees F
• Contains Hydrogen and Helium
• 1 Million Earths could fit inside!
DISTANCE• Light takes 8 minutes to
reach Earth• 117 years to Drive • 19 years to fly•Distance from Earth:
93,205,679 Mileshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light#mediaviewer/File:Earth_to_Sun_-_en.png
CAN THE SUN SUPPORT LIFE?• NO!
• TOO hot
• No water
• No Oxygen
• Only Hydrogen and Helium
• *why haven't we visited?
THE EARTH• Known as the ‘Blue
Planet’
• 70% covered in water
• Temperature: -125 130
• Circular or flat?
ORBIT AND ROTATION
•1 year to “orbit” the sun
•1 day is created by rotation
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/ames-big-blue-marble-storybook-text_prt.htm
EARTH FACTS • Temperature: 61 F• Contains oxygen• Earths speed: 67,000
mph •Gravity
-like a magnet-pulls everything to it
CAN EARTH SUPPORT LIFE?• YES! •Only planet with
water• Lots of Oxygen•Only planet that has
life
THE MOON• Creates tides
•Has mountains
• Craters
-created by comets
MOON FACTS• Temperature in day: 225 F
• Temperature at night: -307 F
• Contains Hydrogen and Helium
• 50 moons could fit inside Earth
DISTANCE
•The moon is 250,000 miles away
•1 year to drive
•3-weeks to fly
MOONS GRAVITY•Less gravity than
Earth
•Your weight on the moon: weight/6
•Neil Armstrong
CAN THE MOON SUPPORT LIFE?
•NO!
• Too hot/ too cold
•No Oxygen
•No water
•Why can Astronauts visit?
TOTAL DISTANCES • Sun from Earth: 93,205,679
miles away
•Moon from Earth: 250,000 miles away
BIG DIFFERENCES•Temperature
•Gasses in the air
•Contains water?
SOURCES • NASA, “Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun” August 31, 2012 via Wikipedia, Creative
Commons Attribution.
• LucasVB, “Illustration, to scale, of Earth’s Distance to the Sun” August 3, 2012 via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
• Arnomane, “The Sun is a Natural Fusion Reactor” February 25, 2015 via Wikipedia, Public Domain.
• NASA, “Earth Viewed by Apollo 8” November 27, 2008 via Earth Observatory, Public Domain.
• NASA, “It Takes the Earth One Year to go Around the Sun” April 9, 2009 via NASA, Public Domain.
• Richard Peters, “The Mad Scientist” June 1, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.
SOURCES
• Luciano Mendez, “Rendering of a Hypothetical Large Extrasolar Moon with Surface Liquid-Water Oceans” February 11, 2011 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.
• Gregory H. Revera, “Full Moon” October 22, 2010 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.
• Mark A. Wieczorek, “Topography of the Moon” August 7, 2010 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution.
• NASA, “Apollo 11” August 5, 2011 via NASA, Public Domain.
• NASA, “U.S. Astronaut Bruce McCandless Uses a Manned Maneuvering Unit” February 7, 1984 via Wikipedia, Public Domain.
• Maissa Azab “The Apparent Sizes of the Sun and the Earth in the Sky of the Moon” March 29, 2006 via Bibalex, Public Domain.
SOURCES
• Jones, Chris, and Carolyn Collins Petersen. "Sun Facts." Space Facts. Marines, 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
• Jones, Chris, and Carolyn Collins Peterson. "Moon Facts." Space Facts. Marines, 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. <http://space-facts.com/the-moon/>.