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Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars

A Science A–Z Earth Series

Word Count: 153

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Written by Alyse Sweeney

Earth, Moon, Sun,

and Stars

Key elementS USed in thiS BooKthe Big idea: Earth is part of a system of fast-moving objects in space. 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 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

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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

Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars © Learning A–Z Written by Alyse Sweeney

All rights reserved.

www.sciencea-z.com

Written by Alyse Sweeney

Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars

We see stars and the Moon.

Look in the sky.

We see the Sun.3 4

5

We live on Earth.

Earth is made of rock and water.

6

Earth is a planet.

Eight planets go around the Sun.

Earth

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Saturn

Jupiter

UranusNeptune

7 8

Earth has water and air.

Living things need water and air to live.

The Sun is a star.

It is bigger than Earth.

109 Earths would fit across the Sun.

It would take a car 177 years to get from Earth to the Sun.

9 10

The Sun sends light to Earth.The Sun’s energy warms Earth’s air.

Light turns to heat.

Light comes to Earth.

Earth spins like a top.

The spinning makes day and night.

11

One side of Earth faces the Sun.

It is day.12

Day

Night

The other side of Earth is dark.

It is night.13

Earth moves around the Sun.

The trip takes one year.14

The Moon is smaller than Earth.

It is made of rock.15

The Moon does not make light.

The Moon looks bright when the Sun’s light shines on it.16

The Moon moves around Earth.

One trip takes 28 days.17

The sky is fun to watch!18

Moon

Earth

New Moon

1st Quarter

3rd Quarter

Full Moon