Earth moon sun interations

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Why do the sun and moon appear roughly the same size in the sky?
The sun is 400x bigger than the moon and also 400x further away from the Earth than the moon.
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What is the period of the lunar phase cycle?
29.5 days
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Describe the appearance of a partial and total solar eclipse
In a total solar eclipse the whole sun is covered and only the corona is visible. In a partial eclipse the moon only passes over part of the sun
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Describe the appearance of a partial and total lunar eclipse
The appearance of a total lunar eclipse is as brick red full moon. A partial eclipse looks like that with a chunk taken out of it
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What is the total length of a solar and lunar eclipse?
Solar: Totality is a minute, 1st to last contact is 2 hours. Lunar: Totality is about 30 minutes from start to end is several hours.
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Why do solar and lunar eclipses not occur every full and new moon.
The plane of the sun and moons orbits are slightly different so don't always line up.
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Why are lunar eclipses more common than solar eclipses?
The earth's shadow is much larger than the moon so it is easier for the moon to be in the shadow/
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What is meant by a solar day and sidereal day?
Solar: time taken for the earth to rotate once and face the sun in the same direction again. (24 hours) Sidereal: time is takes the earth to spin through 360 (23h 56m)
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How can a sun dial be used to determine time?
The shadow cast by the dial points in different directions depending on the time of day
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What is meant by the terms apparent sun and mean sun?
Apparent: where the sun appears to us to be Mean: Where the sun should be if it were following a circular path
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State the equation of time
Apparent solar time (time measures from the shadow stick)-Mean solar time (time taken from a clock based on GMT)
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Describe the appearance of aurorae and where they are likely to appear
They look green, red, blue in colour and are a constantly moving stream. They are most likely to been seen at the poles as this is where the magnetic field of the earth is strongest.
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Why are aurorae causes?
They occur due to charge particles from solar wind are deflected by the magnetic field this causes them to interact with the molecules of the atmosphere. The charged particles excite the molecules then dexcite (emitting light when they do so)
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is the period of the lunar phase cycle?

Back

29.5 days

Card 3

Front

Describe the appearance of a partial and total solar eclipse

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Describe the appearance of a partial and total lunar eclipse

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is the total length of a solar and lunar eclipse?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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