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Earth |
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| Earth is the most unique planet in the Solar
System, as it is the only planet known to have intelligent life. Our planet has a large
variety of life, activity, landscapes and climates. |
- Most of the Earth (70%) is covered with
water.
- The remaining land has a
huge variety of environments - rainforests, deserts, mountains, savannas, and
of course cities cover our home planet.
- We have lots of different
types of weather such as hurricanes, thunderstorms and floods.
- Earth's atmosphere is made
up of many different gases, mainly it is nitrogen (78%) and of course the
vital oxygen we need to breathe (21%).
- The Earth takes one day to
complete a single rotation on it's axis. This axis is tilted at an
angle of 23.5 degrees. If it was straight up and down we wouldn't
have seasons and the temperature would be more or less the same all year
round.
- We have one moon called
simply 'The Moon'. Keep reading to find out more...
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The 'eye' (centre) of Yurie, a tropical storm on Earth. |
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The
Moon |
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| The Moon is a dusty,
desolate place with no air, or even wind. When you're on the Moon, nothing moves, and so
any footprints, or prints of any kind made by visitors to the Moon are there forever.
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The
first people to set foot on the Moon were American astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil
Armstrong on 21st July 1969. As he
stepped out of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and onto the surface of the Moon,
Armstrong said: "It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".
The surface
of the Moon is scarred with craters created by meteors flying into it from
further out in the Solar System. From the
surface of the Earth, the Moon seems to change shape from day to day, or
vanish completely. These changes are known as the 'Lunar phases'. The Moon
completes a set of these phases in just under a month. The Earth
also goes through these phases when viewed from the surface of the Moon!
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Four of the Moon's phases |
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The Moon viewed through a telescope |
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