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The Sky

Study it inAstronomy Level 1Astronomy Level 2

Map

Arrows point from what you learn first to what it opens. Point at a concept to light up its chain and where it comes back deeper. Right-click a concept (or press and hold it) for its lessons and stories.

  • Proven to depth123
  • Open
  • Locked
  • Comes back deeper
Depth 3Depth 2Depth 2ConstellationsDay and nightEclipsesPhases of the MoonSeasonsThe yearStarsIn StarsThe MoonIn The Solar System

Learning path

In the order the concepts build on each other.

  1. Day and nightReadyThe Earth spins around itself once a day. Your side of it faces the Sun for part of each turn - that is day - and faces away for the rest - that is night. The Sun only seems to move across the sky.
  2. SeasonsReadyThe Earth's spin axis is tilted, and it keeps pointing the same way in space all year. So as the Earth goes around the Sun, first one half and then the other leans toward the Sun - getting a higher Sun and longer days. That half has summer while the other half has winter.
  3. Phases of the MoonLockedThe Moon makes no light of its own - the Sun always lights one half of it. As the Moon goes around the Earth, about once a month, we see different amounts of that lit half, from none of it (new moon) to all of it (full moon) and back again.Opens after: The Moon, Day and night
  4. The yearLockedWhile the Earth spins once a day, it is also travelling around the Sun on an almost circular path. One full trip takes a year - about 365 and a quarter days.Opens after: Day and night
  5. ConstellationsLockedConstellations are patterns of stars that people have named, like Orion or the Big Dipper. The stars in a pattern only look close together from where we stand - most are at very different distances from us - and different cultures drew different pictures in the same sky.Opens after: Stars, The year
  6. EclipsesLockedAn eclipse is a shadow. In a solar eclipse the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and its shadow falls on us. In a lunar eclipse the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon, and the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon.Opens after: Phases of the Moon

Connections to other domains