For a long time, people did not fully appreciate what the Earth looked like. The invention of rockets, satellites, and space telescopes eventually provided the opportunity to see what the planet looked like from a distance. The first image of the Earth from space was taken in 1960.

In 1960, the TIROS-1 weather satellite captured the first images of Earth from space.

On their way to the Moon, the Apollo 17 crew captured this image of the Earth in 1972.

In 1990, the space probe Voyager 1 captured this faint image of Earth from over 3.5 billion miles away.

While in orbit around Saturn, the Cassini space probe captured this image of Earth and its moon in 2013.

• Science Notebook

​Materials

• describe some of the characteristics of Earth

• describe how gravity affects Earth in the solar system

• explain Earth's magnetism and its effects

• describe Earth's rotation on its axis

• describe Earth's revolution around the Sun

What we will learn...

Lesson Objectives

• ​3rd planet from the sun.

• One of the four inner planets in the solar system.

• One of the smaller planets

• 1000 times smaller than Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system

Basic Facts About Earth

• ​one of four planets with a rocky composition.

• Most of Earth's surface is covered in water.

• only planet known to have liquid water.

• Has a breathable atmosphere.

• Presence of life

• abundance of water and a rocky surface.

Earth's Landscape

• force between any two objects with mass.

• ​holds the Moon in orbit around Earth

• two factors impact gravity:

  • an object's mass; and

  • the distance between objects.

• the force of gravity decreases as the distance between objects increases. i.e. the close two objects are, the stronger the gravitational pull.

​

Earth's Gravity

• Invisible magnetic field

• extends into space around Earth.

• This causes Earth to have a north and south pole.

• the effects of the magnetic field are vital for protecting Earth from dangerous energy from the Sun.

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Earth's Magnetism

• ​Earth's poles are connected by its axis.

• Two types of motion

  • rotation

  • revolution

Earth's Motions

• ​The Earth rotates around its invisible axis that runs North to South.

• The rotation of the earth causes day and night based on its position to the sun.

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Rotation

• ​The Earth revolves around the sun.

• One revolution takes about 365 days (1 year).

​

Revolution

• ​The path the Earth follows around the sun is not a perfect circle, it is an ellipse (elongated circle).

• Some believe it is an extreme oval making it sometimes closer to the sun.

• Earth's axis causes the seasons; tilted more towards the sun= summer. Tilted away= winter.

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Misconceptions

Review

Today we learned...

• Earth has unique characteristics from other planets, such as liquid water and life;

• gravity and the magnetic field illustrate important forces on Earth; and

• Earth is in constant motion as it rotates on its axis and revolves around the Sun.