Moon Notes Chapter 12

The Moon The positions of the moon, Earth, and sun causes the phases of the moon, eclipses, and tides.

Rotation vs. Revolution A “day” and a “year” are the same length on the moon. One day = 1 rotation of the moon= 29.5 earth days

Dark Side of the Moon The ‘dark side’ is the side we never see. The moons whole set of phases occurs in 29.5 days

Phases of the moon Depends on how much of the sunlit side of the moon faces the Earth

Eclipses occur when…. The moons shadow hits Earth or Earth’s shadow hits the moon There are ‘solar’ eclipses, and ‘lunar’ eclipses

Solar Eclipse Occurs when the moons shadow falls on the Earth. Sun, moon and Earth aligned

Lunar eclipses occur when the earth’s shadow falls on the moon

View of Solar Eclipse

Tides The tides are caused mainly by differences in how much the moon’s gravity pulls on different parts of the Earth

High vs. Low Tide Tides occur in a daily cycle. As the Earth rotates on its axis, any point on Earth goes through a cycle of high tide, low tide, high tide, low tide. The moon’s gravity causes high tide on the side closest to the moon, Low tide occurs when that part of the Earth is at a 90 degree angle to the moon.