Astronomy & space · Grades 6–9
Reading the sky: rotation, seasons and phases · revision notes
Earth rotates, causing the apparent daily movement of the sky. An observation should record time, direction and location rather than assume all observers see the same view.
Key ideas and conditions
Daily motion
Earth rotates, causing the apparent daily movement of the sky. An observation should record time, direction and location rather than assume all observers see the same view.
Seasons
Earth’s axial tilt changes daylight duration and the angle of sunlight through the year. Opposite hemispheres have opposite seasonal patterns; distance from the Sun is not the main cause.
Moon phases
The Moon reflects sunlight. Its phases result from viewing different portions of its sunlit half as the Earth-Moon-Sun geometry changes.
Safe study
Use diagrams or trusted solar imagery for this lesson. Never look at the Sun through an unfiltered telescope, binoculars or camera; ordinary sunglasses are not solar filters.
Explain without looking
- Explain why a full Moon is not a lunar eclipse every month.
- When it is summer in one hemisphere, the opposite hemisphere generally experiences which season?
Further reading and review references
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