The Moon is Earths natural satellite A satellite

The Moon is Earths natural satellite A satellite is something that orbits a larger body It is a natural satellite because it is not man made Scientists believe the moon was once part of Earth but was blasted off in a collision as the Earth formed

The Moon is held in orbit around the Earth by Earth’s Gravity It does not produce its own light like stars do, it just reflects the suns rays This is why we can see it at night The moon can sometimes appear to be orange. This is caused by our atmosphere scattering the light it reflects

Phases of the Moon It takes the Moon 28 days to orbit the Earth Over these 28 days the Moon appears to change shape This is because only half of the Moon is facing the Sun and we can’t see the dark side This shows how the moon appeared over the course of a month

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Day 1 - New moon The dark side of the moon is facing the earth

New moon The dark side of the moon is facing the earth

Day 4 – Waxing Crescent

Waxing Crescent We begin to see part of the side of the moon that is lit up

Day 7 – First quarter

First Quarter Confused!? It’s obviously a half moon but is called a quarter moon because it has gone quarter of the way around the earth

Day 10 – Waxing Gibbous

Waxing Gibbous The moon is now in a position where we can see most of the side that is lit up

Day 14 – Full moon

Full moon The moon is pretty much opposite the sun now and so we can see all of the part that is lit up

Day 18 – Waning Gibbous

Waning Gibbous The moon is now in a position where we can see most of the lit side of the moon

Day 21 – Last quarter

Last Quarter The moon is in the last quarter of it’s way around the

Day 24 – Waning Crescent

Waning Crescent We are starting to lose sight of the side of the moon that is lit up

Day 28 - New moon The dark side of the moon is facing the earth again

Tides are caused by Gravity pulling on the bodies of water on the earth and upon the Earth itself. There are 2 gravitational bodies that affect the tides. The sun and the moon. The Moon is much closer to the Earth so it has a much greater influence upon the tides. Notice that when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are all in a line (Full and New Moon Phases) the high tides are MUCH higher than at other times. These are called SPRING TIDES Also, when the Moon and Sun are at right angles to each other the high tides are lower than at other times. These are called NEAP tides