Home | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids NASA’s award-winning Space Place website engages upper-elementary-aged children in space and Earth science through interactive games, hands-on activities, fun articles and short videos With material in both English and Spanish and numerous resources for kids, parents and teachers, Space Place has something for everyone
All About the Moon | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids All About the Moon Quick Facts: Earth has just one moon – a rocky, cratered place, roughly a quarter the size of Earth and an average of 238,855 miles away The Moon can be seen with the naked eye most nights as it traces its 27-day orbit around our planet
What Causes the Seasons? - NASA Space Place Earth's lopsided orbit Earth's perihelion (point closest to Sun) = 91,400,000 miles from Sun Earth's aphelion (point farthest from Sun) = 94,500,000 miles from Sun While that is a difference of over 3 million miles, relative to the entire distance, it isn’t much
How Far Away Is the Moon? | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids When the Moon is the farthest away, it’s 252,088 miles away That’s almost 32 Earths When it's closest, the Moon is 225,623 miles away That’s between 28 and 29 Earths So far apart! The Moon definitely seems close because we can see it so well without a telescope, but remember, it’s farther away than most people realize!
What Are the Moon’s Phases? - NASA Space Place The other side of the Moon is dark The position of the Moon and the Sun during Each of the Moon’s phases and the Moon as it appears from Earth during each phase Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech On Earth, our view of the illuminated part of the Moon changes each night, depending on where the Moon is in its orbit, or path, around Earth
How Is the Sun Completely Blocked in an Eclipse? - NASA Space Place The Sun is completely blocked in a solar eclipse because the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun Even though the Moon is much smaller than the Sun, because it is just the right distance away from Earth, the Moon can fully blocks the Sun’s light from Earth’s perspective
Earth | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids explore All About Earth explore What Is an Aurora? explore How Far Away Is the Moon? explore How Does GPS Work? Space Place in a Snap explains how your phone knows where to look for pizza explore Lunar Eclipses and Solar Eclipses explore The Space Place Experiment Center do Make a Stained Glass Earth! do How Does GPS Work? explore Why Does the
All About the Sun | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids Just how close is the Sun to Earth? Way, way closer than other stars, but still pretty far away It’s approximately 93 million miles away from Earth That’s 400 times farther than the distance between Earth and the Moon! However, it’s a good thing that Earth isn’t too close to the Sun If we were too close, it would be way too hot to live here The Sun’s surface is very hot, and its atmosphere is even hotter And the Sun’s core is the hottest part of all, at a sizzling 27 million
How Does NASA Communicate With Spacecraft? - NASA Space Place Watch this video to learn all about the Deep Space Network, NASA’s giant radio antennas used to talk with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond NASA spacecraft are exploring our planet, our solar system and beyond How do they tell us what they find out there? Spacecraft send information and pictures back to Earth using the Deep Space Network
What Is the Suns Corona? - NASA Space Place The Sun’s corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere The corona is usually hidden by the bright light of the Sun's surface That makes it difficult to see without using special instruments However, the corona can be viewed during a total solar eclipse