Astronomy

1. Astronomy Unit 3
Artificial Satellites
Natural Satellites
Our Moon
Orbit of our Moon
Surface Features of our Moon
Origin of our Moon

2. Artificial Satellites
 Vocab Words for Artificial Satellites
 Artificial Satellite
 Scientific Research Satellite
 Weather Satellite
 Earth-Observing Satellite
 Navigation Satellite
 Communication Satellite
 Military Satellite

3. Artificial Satellites
 An Artificial Satellite is a man made object put
into orbit around another object.
 For example, they orbit Earth, other planets, moons,
etc.
 They remain in orbit by a gravitational force.
 They all take different types of orbits depending upon
their purpose.
 They include different instruments depending
upon their purpose.
 All include some sort of communication device to
communicate with earth and some sort of device to
allow it to power itself.

4. Artificial Satellites

5. Artificial Satellites
 There are 6 types of artificial satellites:
 Scientific Research Satellite
 Weather Satellite
 Earth-Observing Satellite
 Navigation Satellite
 Communication Satellite
 Military Satellite

6. Artificial Satellites
 Scientific Research Satellite
 Used to collect data and research other
planets and/or moons.

7. Artificial Satellites
 Weather
Satellite
 Used to
collect data
and
research
weather
patterns
across the
world.

8. Artificial Satellites
 Earth-Observing Satellite
 Used to take pictures of different areas of the earth.

9. Artificial Satellites
 Navigation
Satellite
 Used to
communicate
with your gps
and other
tracking
systems.

10. Artificial Satellites
 Communication
Satellite
 Used by
companies to
allow and
enhance
communication
with your tvs,
radios, cell
phones, internet,
etc.

11. Artificial Satellites
 Military
Satellite
 Used by the
government
to spy on
other
nations or
spy on our
own nation.

12. Natural Satellites
 Vocab Words for Natural Satellites
 Natural Satellite

13. Natural Satellites
 A Natural Satellite is an object that is in
orbit around another object. It is not man-
made!
 Examples:
 The earth a natural satellite of the sun.
 All of the planets, comets, meteoroids, asteroids
and dwarf planets are natural satellites of the sun.
 The moon is a natural satellite of the earth.
 Jupiter has 64 natural satellites.
 Natural Satellites orbit due to a gravitational
force exerted by its parent object.

14. Natural Satellites
Here is the orbit of some of the planets around the
sun. They are natural satellites of the sun.

15. Natural Satellites
 Our Moon
 The Orbit of the Moon
 Vocab Words for “The Orbit of the Moon”
 1st Quarter
 3rd Quarter
 New Moon
 Full Moon
 Waxing
 Waning
 Synchronous Orbit
 Near Side
 Far Side
 Lunar Eclipse
 Solar Eclipse

16. Natural Satellites
 The Orbit of the Moon
 The moon revolves around the earth every
29.5 days.
 The moon rotates around itself every 29.5
days as well!
 This means the moon’s orbit is synchronous
 A Synchronous Orbit is when the period of
revolution is equal to the period of rotation. The
moon rotates at the same exact pace that is
revolves at!

17. Natural Satellites
 The Orbit of the Moon
 The Synchronous orbit of the Moon causes
the moon to have a Near Side and a Far Side.
 The Near Side of the Moon is the side of the moon
that ALWAYS faces the earth.
 The Far Side of the Moon is the side of the moon
that NEVER faces the earth.
 In 1959 the Russian Mission, Luna 3 (an unmanned
space probe) photographed it. This is the first time
people saw pictures of the Far Side.
 It wasn’t until 1968 that people saw it first hand. Apollo 8
was able to orbit the moon and view the far side.
Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders
were able to see it.

18. Natural Satellites
Near Side on the Left and Far Side on the Right

19. Natural Satellites
 Note the differences between the Near Side and
Far Side
 This is why scientists believe the Earth has had some
impact on the Formation of the Moon.

20. Natural Satellites
 The Orbit of the Moon
 As the moon revolves around the earth it looks
different in the sky each night.
 The different appearances of the moon in the night
sky are called the Moon Phases.
 The moon is ALWAYS 50% lit up from the sun.
 It isn’t always the lit up side that is facing the earth.
 What we see at night (the different phases) are
combination of the lit up portion of the moon and
side of the moon facing the earth.

21. Natural Satellites

22. Natural Satellites
 The Moon goes through 8 distinct phases during
each of its revolution.
 New Moon
 Waxing Crescent
 1st Quarter
 Waxing Gibbous
 Full Moon
 Waning Gibbous
 3rd Quarter
 Waning Crescent

23. Natural Satellites

24. Natural Satellites
 New Moon is when none of the lit up
portion of the moon is facing the earth.
 The moon appears completely dark in the
night sky from earth.
 Full Moon is when all of the lit portion of
the moon is facing the earth.
 The moon appears completely bright in the
night sky from earth.

25. Natural Satellites
 The Waxing phases are the growing
phases of the moon.
 When the moon goes from new moon to full
moon
 The Waning phases are the shrinking
phases of the moon.
 When the moon goes from full moon back
down to new moon

26. Natural Satellites
 The Orbit of the Moon
 The moon’s orbit is tilted 5 degrees to the earth’s orbit.

27. Natural Satellites
 The Orbit of the Moon
 This tilted orbit means that solar eclipses and
lunar eclipses will NOT occur each month.
 A Solar Eclipse is when the moon comes right in
between the earth and sun and casts its shadow
upon the sun.
 The Moon should be New Moon phase at this point.
 A Lunar Eclipse is when Earth falls directly in
between the sun and the moon and casts its
shadow upon the moon.
 The Moon should be in Full Moon phase at this point.

28. Natural Satellites
 Position of Sun, Moon & Earth
 View from Earth
 Total Solar Eclipse
Solar Eclipse

29. Natural Satellites
Lunar Eclipse
 Position of Sun, Moon & Earth
 View from Earth
 Total Lunar Eclipse

30. Natural Satellites
 Our Moon
 Moon’s Surface Features
 Vocab Words for “Surface Features of
our moon”
 Maria
 Highland
 Crater

31. Natural Satellites
 Moon’s Surface Features
 The moon has surface features similar to the
way earth has surface features.
 When Galileo first looked the moon from earth, he
believed he was seeing oceans and continents on
the moon because he saw darker and lighter
areas.
 The moon consists of maria and highlands.
 Maria are dark, low-lying lava intrusions upon the
moon’s surface
 Highlands are lighter, elevated areas of the
moon’s surface

32. Natural Satellites
 Moon’s Surface Features

33. Natural Satellites
 Moon’s Surface
Features
 The moon’s
surface is covered
in craters. These
are bowl shaped
depressions
resulting from a
meteoroid impact.

34. Natural Satellites
 Origin of our Moon
 You will read about the different theories on
how the moon was formed in your reading
booklet.
 You will also do a lab that where you will learn
about the age of different surface features on
the moon.