Earth's moon (about 239,000 miles from Earth) (That's almost ten times as far as going all the way around the Earth) Nobody knows exactly how the moon formed, but this is one possibility. After the planet Earth formed (along with the other planets), about four and a half billion years ago, during the Hadean Eon, there were [...]
Eclipse of the sun, showing the corona An eclipse of the sun happens whenever the moon gets between the Earth and the sun, so that the moon blocks your view of the sun. Depending on where you are standing on the Earth, you might see the sun completely blocked (as in these pictures) or only partly blocked, or [...]
An eclipse of the moon. You can see the curved shadow of the Earth. An eclipse of the moon happens when the Earth gets between the sun and the moon, so the light from the sun can't get to the moon to be reflected towards the Earth. In other words, the shadow of the Earth covers the whole moon. Eclipse [...]
Looking at an eclipse of the moon The best way to learn about eclipses of the moon is to go outside and look at one. Plus, it's a good excuse to stay up late at night! Mr. Eclipse is a website that will tell you when the next eclipse of the moon is where you live. Eclipses [...]
Astrolabe in Hebrew, probably from Spain (1300s AD) In the early Middle Ages, most people in Europe were too poor to have much time for astronomy. But some people were still interested in the stars. Astrologers tried to predict the future. Monks wanted to figure out the right day to celebrate Easter, or the right times for prayers. And a few [...]
The moon in ancient Greece - A photograph of the moon from space The goddess Artemis Early Greeks thought of the moon as the goddess Artemis. Where the Egyptians had thought of the moon as a man and the sun as a woman, the Greeks reversed that and thought of the moon as a woman. The moon in ancient [...]
The earth in Greek astronomy: The Greeks never saw this view of the earth from space! Gaia and the Earth Early Greeks thought of the Earth as the goddess Gaia, the mother of everything. Like a mother, the Earth gave food to people. By the time of Homer's Odyssey, Greek sailors knew the outline of the Mediterranean and [...]
