STARS, CONSTELLATIONS AND GALAXIES

How wonderful is to watch the stars in a warm summer night? How much do you know about the STARS?

This video will help yo to understand how to see the stars and also is going to show you some of them.

STAR: It is a spherical body which generates light and heat through nuclear reactions. Most stars consist of hydrogen and helium.

Stars have different characteristics:

1. Colour.
2. Size.
3. Luminosity.

CONSTELLATIONS: They are groups of stars. There are eighty-eight constellations. They used to have the names of characters from mythology or the names of animals or objects because of the shape they form.

NEBULAE: A nebulae is a cloud of dust and gas. Some are illuminated by stars near them.

GALAXIES: Galaxies are enormous groups of stars, gases and dust.

There are three types:

• Elliptical

• Spiral.

• Irregular. 

Our Solar System is inside a Galaxy called THE MILKY WAY.

If you want further information you can look in the following link.

Rader's Cosmos4Kids

LET'S CHECK YOUR LEARNING WITH THE FOLLOWING TEST AND ACTIVITIES.

• Neok12. Label the Diagram: Astronomical Objects
• Cosmo4Kids Quizz: General Astronomy
• Cosmo4Kids Quizz: Solar System

THE MOON AND THE ECLIPSE

Do you know that the Moon orbits the Earth and rotates on its axis?

This video may explain you lots of characteristics of the MOON and ECLIPSES. 

The moon has four LUNAR PAHSES, they depend on the Moon's position in relation to both the Earth and the Sun.

• NEW MOON: no part of the moon is visible.

• FIRST QUARTER: The illuminated half is increasing.

• FULL MOON: The side of the moon facing the Earth is being lit by the Sun.

• LAST QUARTER: The illuminated half is decreasing.

Let's learn a bit more about the MOON PHASES with this animation: 

LUNAR CYCLE ANIMATION

Sometimes there is a great phenomenon, when the MOON, the SUN and the EARTH ALING. This is which we called ECLIPSE.

We can have two kinds of eclipse:

• LUNAR ECLIPSE: The Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon and blocks the Sun's light.

• SOLAR ECLIPSE: The Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blonck the Sun's light and project a shadow on the Earth. If they are in a perfect line it is a TOTAL ECLIPSE. 

In the following link you can watch a short video about a Solar Eclipse. 

Solar eclipse block sun in Australia

LET'S CHECK ALL YOUR LEARNING WITH THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITY:

The Earth

As we have learn the Earth in the last lesson the Earth is the third planet of the SOLAR SYSTEM. Like the song said to us it has got land and sea, this is why it seems to be blue.

THE EARTH

The earth has two kind of movements.

REVOLUTION.

ROTATION

This video may clarify the two concepts for you:

REVOLUTION: It is the movement of the earth around the Sun. It takes 365 days and 6 hours. This is why we have LEAP YEARS every four years. The orbit around the sun it isn't a circle, IT IS AN ELLIPSE.

ROTATION: The earth has an invisible axis, and the earth rotates on it. It takes 24 hours. At any time there is half part facing the sun and half part facing away the sun. THIS IS WHY WE HAVE DAY AND NIGHT, and this is why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. 

SEASONS: We have different seasons depending on what part of the orbit around the sun the Earth is. It is hotter when the Earth is nearer the Sun, and it is colder when it is further from the Sun. We also have different season depending on the hemisphere because of the slighty tilted axis. 

The best thing for learning something is doing it. SO LET MAKE A SHORT PLAY TO EXPLAIN THE ROTATION AND REVOLUTION OF THE EARTH.

YOU WILL NEED:

1. A torch.
2. Some  labels: The Moon, The Earth, The Sun, etc..
3. The script.
4. Some IMAGINATION.

In your group you are going to create a short play to explain the rest of the class how the Earth rotates and revolves around the Sun, also you should explain why do we have seasons and day and night. 

LET'S CHECK ALL YOUR LEARNING WITH THIS LINK  (You can show how the Earth moves and also do the quizz)

Earth, Sun and Moon