Showing posts with label Moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moon. Show all posts

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Harvest Moon


We've learned about all of the phases of the moon, and the blue moon.

Another special type of moon is called the Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon.
The harvest moon is special because it looks red!

Remember a long time ago we learned about the different colors of light, ROY G BIV?

When the moon doesn't look high up in the sky, but instead low down towards the ground, we call that on the horizon. And when you're not looking up in the sky but out on the horizon, you're looking through the sky (the atmosphere) into space at a different direction, and the color Red (from ROY G BIV) stands out more, which makes the moon look red!

It's called a harvest moon because it shows up in the fall when farmers are harvesting their crops.

harvest moon
(from: wikipedia - full moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Atmosphere

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Waning Crescent


We've learned now about the moon's lunar phases: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous and last quarter.

After last quarter, the moon continues to get darker on the right side.
Once it is almost totally dark and there is only a crescent of light on the left side, that is called waning crescent.

Remember that when the light crescent is on the right side, that is waxing crescent.
waning crescent
(from: wikipedia - category:lunar phases)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Meteorite

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Last quarter moon


We've learned now about the moon's lunar phases: new moon, waxing crescent moon, first quarter moon, waxing gibbous, full moon and waning gibbous.

After waning gibbous, the moon continues to get darker on the right side.
Once it is about half dark, that is called the last quarter moon.

Remember that when the left side is dark, that is the first quarter moon.
last quarter moon
(from: wikipedia - category:lunar phases)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Meteoroid

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Waning Gibbous


We've learned now about the moon's lunar phases: new moon, waxing crescent moon, first quarter moon, waxing gibbous and full moon.

After the moon is full and bright, it starts to get dark again.
The next phase after full moon is called Waning Gibbous.

Waning sort of means going away, so the moon is almost full and getting less full every day.
The waxing gibbous moon was a little dark on the left side.
The waning gibbous moon is a little dark on the right side.

waning gibbous
(from: wikipedia - category:lunar phases)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Comets

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Waxing Gibbous Moon


We've learned now about the moon's lunar phases: full moon, new moon, waxing crescent moon and first quarter moon.

The next phase after first quarter is called waxing gibbous.

When the moon is almost full, but only a small crescent on the left side is dark, that is called waxing gibbous.


waxing gibbous
(from: wikipedia - category:lunar phases)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Asteroids

Saturday, March 29, 2014

First Quarter Moon


We've learned now about the moon's lunar phases: full moon, new moon and waxing crescent moon.

The next phase after waxing crescent is called first quarter.
When you look up in the night sky and you see the right half of it, that is a first quarter moon.

A quarter is when you divide something up into four equal parts, a quarter is one of those parts.
So if you divide the moon into four parts: 1 back left (dark), 2 back right (dark), 3 front left (dark), 4 front right (light)
You can see that only one of the four parts of the moon has sun light on it.

quarter moon
(from: wikipedia - category:lunar phases)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Kuiper Belt

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Waxing Crescent


We know that a full moon is when the sun is on the other side of us, shining right on the moon, and a new moon is when the moon is totally dark because it is in between the earth and the sun.


Right after a new moon, the moon will start to get some sunlight on it's right side. This makes a crescent shape, so we call it a crescent moon. Since the moon is going to get more full as the days go on, we use the word waxing to say that it is going to get fuller. So we can say the moon is waxing crescent.
waxing crescent moon
(from: wikipedia - category:photographs of the waxing crescent moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pluto

Saturday, March 15, 2014

New Moon


We know that a full moon is when the sun is on the other side of us, shining right on the moon.

A new moon is the opposite of a full moon. It is when the moon is in between the earth and the sun. When it is there, we can't see the moon in the night sky.
new moon
(from: wikipedia - new moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Neptune

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Full Moon


We just learned a little about the Lunar Eclipse.

A full moon happens about once every 29 days.
Since there are 28, 30 or 31 days in each month we usually see a full moon once every month.

The full moon happens because the sun is shining right on the part of the moon that we can see.
Sometimes the sun is shining on a different side of the moon that is not facing us, and we would not see the full moon.

full moon
(from: wikipedia - full moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Uranus

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Lunar eclipse


We know that a solar eclipse is when the moon gets between the earth and the sun.

A lunar eclipse is when the earth gets between the moon and the sun. Since the earth is blocking the sunlight shining on the moon, the moon will go dark in the sky and you won't be able to see it.
lunar eclipse
lunar eclipse
(from: wikipedia - lunar eclipse)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Saturn

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Blue moon


We just learned about the Lunar Phase.

When people talk about a blue moon they don't mean that the moon actually turns blue!
A full moon comes around every 29 days, so there is usually only one full moon per month.

If there are two full moons in the same month, the second one is called a blue moon.
This doesn't happen very much, so there is a saying "once in a blue moon" that means not very often.
blue moon
(from: wikipedia - blue moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jupiter

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Lunar Phase


We just learned about the Solar Eclipse.

A full moon is when you can see the whole moon bright in the night sky.

What about when the moon isn't full and only part of it is showing?
Or when you can't see the moon at all in the sky?

The changing of the moon in the sky is called the lunar phase.
The light on the moon changes because it orbits the earth, and when the part we can see does not have sunlight shining on it, it is dark.
When the sunlight is shining on it all the way, it's bright.

lunar phase
(from: wikipedia - lunar phase)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mars

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Solar eclipse


Remember orbit means that one thing spins around the outside of another thing.

We know the moon orbits around the earth, and is kind of close to the earth.
We also know the earth orbits around the sun.

What happens when the moon spins around the earth, and is right between the earth and the sun?
That's called a solar eclipse.

The moon gets right between the earth and the sun, and blocks out the sun!
solar eclipse
(from: wikipedia - solar eclipse)

When the moon is in just the right position, it blocks out pretty much the whole sun, and the earth gets dark light night time, even though it's day time!
solar eclipse
(from: wikipedia - solar eclipse)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Earth

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Moon Tides


We just learned about Gravity on the Moon.

The moon orbits the earth about every 27 days, and the earth spins around once every day.

Because the moon is so big, as it is spinning around the earth it affects the oceans and lakes.
This is called Tide.

When a part of the ocean is facing where the moon is, the water rises up.
Then when the earth spins and the moon orbits, the water goes down.
When the ocean is facing totally opposite of where the moon is, the water rises up again.
And when the earth spins again the water goes down.

If you live on an ocean or lake, you can see the water rise up to the beach for a few hours, then go back out for a few hours.

high tide low tide
(from: wikipedia - tide)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Planet Venus

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Gravity on the Moon


We just learned about Lunar Rocks.

When the astronauts walked on the moon, it wasn't the same as walking here on earth.

The gravity on the moon is a lot less than earth.
That means if you dropped a ball to the ground, it would fall slowly like a balloon!

If you are on the moon and you jump up in the air, you won't come down fast like normal,
you'll float down slowly like a balloon too.

If you weigh 50 pounds on Earth, you would only weigh about 8 pounds on the moon.

aldrin apollo
(from: wikipedia - buzz aldrin)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Planet Mercury

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Lunar rocks


We just learned about the Lunar Lava Tube.

When the Apollo missions visited the moon, they brought back over 800 pounds of rock!

Those lunar rocks (or moon rocks) have helped us to study what the moon is made of.
moon rock
(from: wikipedia - geology of the moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: ISS - International Space Station

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Lunar Lava Tube


We just learned about Lunar Soil.

A while back we learned how lava tubes on earth are tunnels underground formed by lava channels.

There are also lava tubes on the moon!

Scientists think they could make great places for astronauts to live if we ever have people stay on the moon.

lunar lava tube
(from: wikipedia - lunar lava tube)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Lunar Soil


We just learned about Lunar Impact Craters.

The dust, dirt and broken rocks on the moon are called lunar soil, or regolith.

When the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon, their boots left footprints in the soil.
apollo 11 boot print
(from: wikipedia - lunar soil)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ranger 4 - First American spacecraft on the moon

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Lunar impact craters


We just learned about the big long ditches on the moon called Lunar Grabens.

Lunar impact craters are large circle shaped things on the moon that almost look like big empty swimming pools.

They were created by smaller asteroids that crashed into the moon and left marks there.

lunar impact crater tycho
(from: wikipedia - impact crater)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Luna 2 - First spacecraft on the moon

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Lunar Grabens


We just learned about the Lunar Wrinkle Ridges

Let's keep learning about the Moon!

Another thing you can see on the moon looks like a big long ditch.

This is called a Graben.

One of the grabens on the moon is called Rima Ariadaeus:
lunar grabens
(from: wikipedia - geology of the moon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: First Americans in space - Alan Shepard, John Glenn