The sun and the moon
The Moon
A very long time ago, when the Earth was still a baby planet, something amazing happened. Imagine a giant ball, as big as the planet Mars, crashing into the Earth! It was a huge crash, and it sent pieces of the Earth flying into space. These pieces of Earth were so hot that they melted together. Over time, they cooled and formed a new ball in space. We call this ball the Moon.
The Moon is like a little brother to the Earth. It's always there, watching over us.
The moon, moves across the sky. It rises in the east in the morning, reaches its highest point in the sky in the middle of the day, and sets in the west in the evening.
The shape of the moon changes slightly every day, but the time at which it appears in the same position varies depending on its shape.
When the moon is closer to the Earth, it appears larger and brighter. This is because the moon's surface area is the same, but it is being projected onto a smaller area of the sky.
The moon's shape also changes because of the way that sunlight hits it. When the moon is on the same side of the Earth as the Sun, it is completely dark. This is called a new moon.
The moon, not unlike the sun, does not emit its own light, so its surface can be directly observed with binoculars or a telescope.
The moon is a sphere, like the Earth and the sun. Its diameter is about 3,500 kilometers, which is about 1/4 diameter of the Earth and 1/400 of the diameter of the sun.?
From Earth, the moon and sun appear to be the same size. This is because the moon is only about 1/4 hundredth the diameter of the sun, but the distance from Earth to the sun is about four hundred times the distance from Earth to the moon.
The moon has no air or water, and its surface is covered in rocks and sand.?
The sun
The shape and size of the sun
The Sun’s diameter is about 140 million kilometers which is about 109 times the diameter of the Earth. The sun is like a giant ball of fire! Its surface is at an incredibly hot temperature of about 5500℃! The surface of the sun is constantly burning and erupting with huge flames. The sun's gravity is 28 times stronger than Earth.
The Sun formed in the same nebula as the Earth, from a collection of many small particles. The Sun is a very large star, 109 times larger than the Earth. The Sun continues to burn, releasing heat and light that provide energy for the Earth
The sun is at its highest point in the sky at noon. The sun's altitude at south transit varies depending on the season and location.