Category: Writing for kids 5-7

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The Moon Dance – Learn Moon Phases

PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY BY DANIEL CUMMINGS

The moon dance helps you learn and understand the phases of the moonLearn the Moon phases by doing an easy dance.

At sunset.

Face the sun.

Point your right hand toward the Sun.

Now point your left hand toward the Sun.

Both hands should be pointing at the sun.

Now, turn a little bit to the left, keeping both hands pointing at the sun.

Swing your left arm out until it is pointing in the opposite direction from the sunset. Bring your hands together again and repeat this swinging motion.

Bring your hands together again and point them both at the sun. This time, instead of swinging, bounce your left hand, leftward, some number of times… (14 is perfect if you can do it) …until it is pointing in the completely opposite direction from the Sun at sunset. Your left hand should now be pointing East.

Was the moon at any one of those 14 hand bounce spots? That is the age of the moon in days.

Please post your questions in the comments!

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What Looks Like Sunset

English: The sunset seen from Shwesandaw Pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar. Date 9 December 2014, 17:23:27 Source Own work Author Jacklee Camera location 21° 09′ 49.23″ N, 94° 51′ 58.11″ E Heading=76.098113207547° Is what looks like sunset really the sun – “setting”?

What is that thing that happens every day that makes it look like sunset?

Can you change your mind easily? Are you flexible enough to understand that the same set of observations and facts can lead two different people to two different conclusions?

For a long time, everyone on the Earth thought the Sun was moving and the Earth was staying still. This is just what it looks like and anyone who dared to suggest a different view might easily be considered odd, or worse, dangerous. Having the benefit of hundreds of years of scientific evidence and wisdom to back up my observations, I now have the luxury of believing that it is the Earth that is moving and that the Sun is the one standing still.

It is fun to imagine being carried through space on the surface of a giant ball. Definitely better than staying still while the sun careens through the sky each day. With this image in my mind, I feel the Earth is carrying me away from the view of the Sun.

Sunset should be called “away sun” and not “sun set” because it is me moving, not the sun. It is me being carried away into the shadows forming behind the bulge of the Earth, not the Sun setting. I am riding the Earth with its great round bulk between me and the Sun.

It’s NOT a sunset but me… rushing backwards… at 1000 mph as the bulge of the earth grows in between.

I propose “awaysun” as the new name for sunset and “towardsun” as the name for sunrise. These new names help solidify the idea that we are the ones moving.

What do you think?

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