Sandburg Center for Sky Awareness
A Fairfax County Public Schools Planetarium
B&W Version (for printing) | SCSA Home
Grade Level 8 - Earth and Space Systems
(Moon Phases, Solar and Lunar Eclipses, Ocean Tides, and Seasons)
Related Internet Information Resources
THE MOON & MOON PHASES
SOLAR & LUNAR ECLIPSES
OCEAN TIDES
SEASONS
MISCELLANEOUS
- Times of sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, twilight, and other
astronomical data are available from U.S. Naval Observatory's
Astronomical Applications Department.
- USA TODAY
Weather - Sun, moon, stars, time
- USA
TODAY Weather - Frequently Asked Questions about seasons, solstices,
equinoxes
- USA TODAY
Weather - Day, night not equal on equinox
- Paramount Pictures' Deep
Impact - the movie about a comet on a fatal collision course with
the Earth. To be released 8 May 1998.
- Touchstone Pictures' (ironic name for the film company, considering
that stone is about to touch the Earth in a big way!) Armageddon - the movie
about an asteroid the size of Texas on a fatal collision course with the
Earth (remarkably similar premise, eh?). To be released 5 July 1998.
- NASA
Fact Sheet: Asteroids, Comets, and NASA Research
- Simulate the collision of an asteroid or a comet with any planet in
Solar System! Visit Solar System
Collisions to create your own "deep imact!" (Note: the first time
you visit this site, click on the "Help" button for useful background
information.)
- Terrestrial
Impact Craters - Impact craters are geologic structures formed when a
large meteoroid, asteroid or comet smashes into a planet or a satellite.
Believe it or not, the Earth has been even more heavily impacted than the
Moon! In contrast to the moon (where craters are well-preserved), craters
on the Earth are continually erased by erosion and redeposition as well as
by volcanic resurfacing and tectonic activity. Thus only about 120
terrestrial impact craters have been recognized. View several of the more
prominent craters on Earth.
- The
Electromagnetic Spectrum
- Biography of a
Star: Our Sun's Birth, Life, and Death, including a clever
activity on using parallax to measure distance, e.g., the distance to
nearby stars (from issue Number 39, The Universe in the Classroom)
NEW LINKS (added 18 May 1999)
- The Eagle has landed. Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the
Apollo 11 moon landing by visiting the following sites:
- NASA
Apollo 11 30th Anniversary - On July 20, 1969 Neil A. Armstrong took
his "Small Step" onto the surface of the moon. To celebrate the 30th
anniversary of its greatest success, NASA has created this new site, which
features interviews with the crew, the full text of Apollo: Expeditions
to the Moon and The First Lunar Landing: As Told By The
Astronauts, biographies, several documents, multimedia galleries, and
timelines. Highlights include the Apollo 11 image gallery, panorama
photos in the Apollo 11 Lunar Service Journal gallery, the astronauts
comments in The First Lunar Landing, and the "Top Ten Scientific
Discoveries Made During Apollo Exploration of the Moon," located in the
document section.
- Apollo@30 - The
National Space Society begins the nation-wide celebration of this summer's
Apollo 11 lunar landing 30th anniversary Tuesday, 18 May with the first of
its "Apollo@30" countdown moments. Each week between now and early July,
NSS will release an "Apollo moment," an historical event that happened on
that date 30 years ago as America prepared to send the first human
expedition to land upon the Moon. And in early July, the Apollo@30 moments
will be issued each day as the nation "counts down" to the historic 30th
anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing voyage.
- Apollo 11 Lunar Surface
Journal: Mission Summary - thoughts from Apollo astronauts, crew
information, image and video libraries, flight plans, checklists, mission
overview, and more.
- Apollo
11 Mission Facts
- Surface
Views of the Apollo 11 Landing Site
- Apollo
11 Lunar Samples and Site Geology
- The
History Place: Apollo 11
- Apollo 11 Slide
Show
- Apollo 11 Image
Gallery
- Index
of Apollo 11 Sounds
- Index of Apollo
11 Images. Search the previous directory.
- Apollo 11:
25 Years Later. Designed for the 25th anniversary in 1994, this site
holds images with captions and audio files.
- Lunar Phases
Web Tool and Quiz (JAVA)
- The Phaser - An
Interactive Lunar Odyssey (The Phaser requires Shockwave to run. Download
the latest version of Shockwave.)
- The Moon -
WeatherNet4 Community and Education Web page
- The
Inconstant Moon - The Moon at Perigee and Apogee
- The Inconstant Moon. This
site features an interactive calendar that produces an image of the moon
phase for each day of the year. It also provides photos and information on
the best lunar features to see on the selected day.
- History of the
Moon. Also features links to a timeline and lunar mythology pages.
- Lunar
Exploration. Learn more about NASA's missions to the moon from the
Ranger and Surveyor in the 1960s to the Lunar Prospector mission of 1997.
- The
Moon. A comprehensive site with many links that provide more in-depth
information.
- Earth and
Moon Viewer. View the Earth from the Sun and moon, and see the moon
from either the Sun or the Earth. You pick the day, time, longitude,
latitude, altitude, and more. The site also features links to Earth- and
moon-related screen savers.
- Virtual Reality Moon
Phase Pictures. Find the phase of the moon for any date and time from
A.D. 1800 to 2199.
- The Moon
Illusion - An explanation of the optical illusion of the apparent
increased size of the moon when seen near the horizon.