Eclipses
Students learn how the Sun, Moon and Earth line up to produce total, partial, annular and lunar eclipses, why eclipses are rare, how to view them safely, and what eclipses have revealed to science.
Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops7 stops
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What students will see and do
Students visit the Sun three times to compare apparent sizes, experience totality and learn eclipse science and safety, visit the Moon twice to see why eclipses do not happen monthly and why a lunar eclipse turns red, look near Jupiter at Io's eclipses, and end at Earth with future eclipse dates. The class pauses at two discussion stops: Jupiter and Earth.
Learning objectives
- Model the positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth during solar and lunar eclipses.
- Explain how the Moon's 5 degree orbital tilt limits eclipses to eclipse seasons about every 6 months.
- Compare total, partial and annular solar eclipses using the umbra, the penumbra and the Moon's changing distance.
- Describe how eclipses led to the discovery of helium, a test of Einstein's gravity and the first measurement that light has a speed.
NGSS connections
| MS-ESS1-1 | Students develop and use a model of the Earth, Sun and Moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of solar and lunar eclipses. |
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Stops on this journey
- A Perfect Coincidence
- Why Not Every Month?
- Standing in the Shadow
- Rings of Fire and Lessons Learned
- The Red Moon
- Eclipses on Other Worlds (discussion stop)
- Eclipses in Your Future (discussion stop)
Vocabulary
- solar eclipse
- lunar eclipse
- umbra
- penumbra
- totality
- corona
- annular eclipse
- saros