Susan L. Norwood
Research the Satellites of the Solar System
Objective: To have the students be able to use the media center to locate and access information on the satellites in the solar system.
Materials: Reference materials and internet access if available.
Procedure: Have the students locate resources the will provide information on the planets that have satellites. Find the names of the satellites, their distance from the planet and their diameters. Also their periods of revolution and who discovered them and when they were discovered should be found. Have the students work in small groups and research one planet. Have the students present their information in graph format.
Evaluation: Have the students share their information orally and display the graphs.
The moon makes no light of its own. The moon shines by reflecting sunlight. Most of the sunlight that shines onto the moons surface is absorbed. Only 11% of the sunlight that the moon absorbs is reflected back into space. The moon is the brightest light in the night sky because it is closer to earth than any other sky object
The moon rises in the East and sets in the West every day because of the fact that the earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. The earth's gravity has locked the moon into what is known as synchronous rotation. The moon, like the earth, rotates on its axis. The rotation of the moon on its axis takes approximately 27.3 days. It also takes the moon 27.3 days to complete one trip around the earth. This rotation is called a sidereal month. The sidereal revolution period is measured relative to the stars. Because the earth and the moon have traveled together around the sun during sidereal month, two more days must pass before the syzygy occurs. The moon, earth and sun must be in a line before the moon is new or full again. The mean time for the moon to repeat is phases is called a synodic month, which occurs every 29.5 days. The synodic period is measured from the earth. The moon needs two more days to catch up with the earth in order to reach its position relative to the sun as viewed from the earth. The orbit of the moon is elliptical, therefore the moon appears to look larger at perigee, when its orbit is closest to the earth and smaller at apogee, when its orbit is farthest from the earth. v Because the moon's rotation period is equal to it's period of revolution, the same side of the moon always faces the earth. Due to variations in the moon's motions known as librations, we actually see 59% of the moon's surface over time. Librations were first observed by Galileo.
