Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars a Science A–Z Earth Series Word Count: 153 Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars
Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars A Science A–Z Earth Series Word Count: 153 Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars
Written by Alyse Sweeney
Visit www.sciencea-z.com www.sciencea-z.com Key elements Used in This Book The Big Idea: Earth is part of a system of fast-moving objects in space. Earth, Moon, Earth rotates on its axis, Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Moon revolves around Earth. These movements affect important aspects of our daily lives, including night and day, our calendars, the availability of light and heat, and the appearance of the Moon and the Sun in Sun, and Stars the sky. Humans have an ever-growing understanding of how the Earth, Moon, and Sun move and interact. This understanding helps us make sense of what we see in the sky, both by day and by night. An understanding of our nearby space neighborhood can also inspire future exploration deeper into space, which may someday even include the discovery of life on distant planets. Key words: air, dark, day, Earth, energy, light, Moon, night, planet, rock, sky, spin, star, Sun, water, year Key comprehension skill: Cause and effect Other suitable comprehension skills: Compare and contrast; classify information; main idea and details; identify facts; elements of a genre; interpret graphs, charts, and diagrams Key reading strategy: Visualize Other suitable reading strategies: Ask and answer questions; summarize; connect to prior knowledge
Photo Credits: Front cover: © Paul Paladin/Dreamstime.com; back cover, pages 5, 7 (bottom),11 (Earth): © iStockphoto.com/Andrey Prokhorov; title page: © iStockphoto.com/David de Groot; page 3: © iStockphoto.com/Jon Mullen; page 4: © iStockphoto.com/Dimitar Marinov; page 6: © Christos Georghiou/Dreamstime.com; page 7 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Eric Hood; pages 8 (Sun), 11 (Sun), 14 (Earth, Sun): © iStockphoto.com/George Argyropoulos; pages 8 (stars), 11 (stars), 14 (stars), 15 (Earth), 17 (Earth, stars): courtesy of NASA/GSFC; page 8 (car): © Jupiterimages Corporation; page 9: © iStockphoto.com/Diego Cervo; page 10 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/ Catherine Yeulet; page 11 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Licia Rubinstein; page 12: © iStockphoto.com/ Jill Chen; page 13: © Cathy Yeulet/123RF; pages 15 (Moon), 17 (Moon): © iStockphoto.com/ Dra Schwartz; page 16: © iStockphoto.com/Tom Hahn; page 17 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/ Midhat Becar; page 18 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Manfred Konrad; page 18 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/Yu-qian Wang
Illustration Credit: Page 10 (top): Cende Hill/© Learning A–Z
Written by Alyse Sweeney
Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars © Learning A–Z www.sciencea-z.com Written by Alyse Sweeney All rights reserved.
www.sciencea-z.com Look in the sky. We see the Sun. We see stars and the Moon. 3 4 Mercury Jupiter
Venus
Earth Mars
We live on Earth. Earth is a planet. Earth is made of rock Eight planets go around and water. the Sun. 5 6 It would take a car 177 years to get from Earth to the Sun.
109 Earths would fit across the Sun.
Earth has water and air. Living things need water The Sun is a star. and air to live. It is bigger than Earth. 7 8 Light turns to heat.
Light comes to Earth.
The Sun’s energy warms The Sun sends light to Earth. Earth’s air. 9 10 Earth spins like a top. The spinning makes day and night.
Night
Day One side of Earth faces the Sun. It is day.
11 12 The other side of Earth is dark. Earth moves around the Sun. It is night. The trip takes one year.
13 14 The Moon does not The Moon is smaller make light. than Earth. The Moon looks bright when It is made of rock. the Sun’s light shines on it.
15 16 Earth
Moon
3rd Quarter
New Full Moon Moon 1st Quarter
The Moon moves around Earth. One trip takes 28 days. The sky is fun to watch!
17 18