Predict the Solar Cycle
Why Does the Moon Have Phases?
The Moon is the brightest object in the night sky when its whole face is showing. This only happens at full Moon. So why isn't it always a full Moon?
Solstick: Example Result
We can estimate the size of the Earth by seeing how far away you are from somewhere nearer the equator where the Sun was directly overhead at the time the measurement was made. You can see how this works in detail here.
For the Solstick experiment, we collected lots of shadow stick measurements from people all over the UK.
Solstick: How it works
To measure the size of the Earth, we can use the fact that shadows cast by the Sun are different lengths in different places at the same time. If the Earth were flat, all the shadows would be the same everywhere at a particular time, but because it is curved like a ball, some shadows are longer than others.
Solstick: Measuring the Earth
For a number of years around the Summer Solstice, the Schools' Observatory ran a national experiment to use shadow sticks to measure the size of the Earth.
Earth, Sun and Moon Quiz
The Earth is the planet you (and everyone else) live on! The Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth. This means it travels around our planet in a huge circle called an 'orbit'. The Sun is a star in the centre of our Solar System.