Can you guess how long it would take you to cycle
to the Moon? If you cycled at 10 miles per hour which is probably
about as fast as you can go on your bike, then it would take you
994 days or just under 3 years!
But that would be without stopping for a drink,
sandwiches or even for the loo!
The Moon was one of the first things I ever saw
through a telescope. I was about 10 years old when I first looked
through a telescope at the Norwich Astronomical Society and saw
the craters on the Moon and the rings of Saturn.
Wow, they were brilliant to see! The good news
is that you don't need a telescope to look at stuff in the sky.
There is no better place to start than with the
Moon. It's big and it's bright and easy to
find, although sometimes you can't even see it at night because
it's hiding behind the Earth!
Try finding the Moon every evening for two or three
weeks and draw what you see. After drawing it for a couple of weeks,
can you see anything changing?
Sun dial experiment
So what other astronomy things can you do? You
could make a sundial.
Many years ago people used a a sun dial to tell
the time |
Unlike today when we have watches and clocks, telling
the time a few hundred years ago was pretty difficult.
So a sundial was made which helped to tell the
time from the shadow made by the Sun.
An easy way you can make a sundial is to place
a stick, cane or thin piece of wood into your garden (make sure
its not in the shade)!
Every day at the same time push a peg into the
ground where the shadow of the stick ends. Does it stay in the same
place or does it move? Discuss this with your science teacher when
you get back to school and see if you can find out what it means.
See our easy instructions on how to make
a sundial.
A word of warning: NEVER look directly at the Sun, with or without
telescopes. It is very dangerous.
Read more: Find out about
a galaxy far
far awayΒ»
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