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Earth and Space Concepts

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Earth and Space Concepts

You are helping an Australian observatory explain the changing sky. Use the diagrams and information in each task. Show your reasoning in short answers.

Earth’s daily and yearly motions

Use what you know about Earth’s motion to interpret the evidence.

1.At sunrise, a town in Australia begins to receive sunlight. Which motion of Earth causes this daily change from night to day?

Earth rotating on its tilted axis
Earth orbiting the Sun once each year
The Moon orbiting Earth
The Sun orbiting Earth

2.Earth takes about 24 hours to rotate once. In your own words, explain why this produces one cycle of day and night for most places on Earth.

3.Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.5° from the perpendicular to its orbital plane. Explain why this tilt, together with Earth’s orbit, causes seasons in Australia.

Moon, eclipses and tides

A coastal science team is tracking the Moon’s changing appearance and the tides.

4.The Moon does not make its own visible light. Why do observers on Earth see new, crescent, quarter and full Moon phases during its orbit?

5.During a lunar eclipse, which arrangement of the Sun, Earth and Moon allows Earth’s shadow to fall on the Moon?

6.A solar eclipse can only occur when the Moon is between Earth and the Sun. Explain why a solar eclipse does not happen at every new Moon.

7.The Moon’s gravity is the main cause of ocean tides, while the Sun also influences them. Complete the explanation: when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned, their gravitational effects combine to produce especially high and low tides called tides.

Reading the night sky

Use the star data and the skywatching clues to solve the observatory’s questions.

Colour

Relative surface temperature

Red

Cooler

Yellow

Hotter than red

Blue

Hottest of these colours

8.Using the star comparison, which colour star is typically hottest: red, yellow or blue?

Red
Yellow
Blue
They are all the same temperature

9.The stars in a constellation appear near one another in the sky. Are they necessarily close together in space? Explain your answer.

10.A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, not a measure of time. The nearest star beyond the Sun is about 4.2 light-years away. What does this tell you about the scale of distances between stars?

11.Earth orbits the Sun once each year. Explain why this changes which constellations are visible in the night sky at different times of the year.