Explore Earth and the Moon
Take the quiz and check your answers!
Click here to take the quiz!Who Am I?
I was born in Pisa, Italy in 1564. I entered medical school to become a doctor, but I was more
interested in astronomy than medicine, so I became an astronomer. However, observing distant
stars closely with just my naked eyes was very difficult. Then, one day, I heard the news that a
telescope had been invented in the Netherlands. I taught myself how to make a telescope and
observed distant stars as much as I could. I also observed the Moon, Earth’s satellite, and made
drawings of it. Then, I discovered 4 satellites orbiting Jupiter in our solar system. When I said that
Mercury
Earth Jupiter Saturn Neptune
Jupiter had satellites like Earth, people thought it was
impossible. People back then believed that “the center of the
universe is Earth, and celestial bodies (all objects in the universe) moves around Earth.” Claiming that Jupiter had satellites was against the Biblical idea that Earth is the center of the universe. The world was in shock, and I was put on trial by the church. Who am I?
The person looking through something is me.
What tool am I using, and what am I doing?
By or with ② 
, I ③ the night sky.
, I ③ the night sky.
I’m quite good at drawing. But people were astonished
when they saw my drawings. I drew a celestial object,
which was believed to be smooth and perfectly round, in
a bumpy and irregular shape. Ⓐ is a hand-drawn version
of what I saw, and Ⓑ is a photo taken later. What is this?
Click here to take the quiz!Why Life Exists on Earth?
The following picture shows the solar
system, with Earth as one of its planets.
We live on Earth, but is there life on other
stars as well? Let’s explore why humans
can live on Earth.
Question 1 The closest planet to the Sun is Mercury. If Earth were the closest to the Sun, could humans or other life forms survive?
Question 2 The farthest planet from the Sun is Neptune. If Earth were the farthest planet from the Sun, could humans or other life forms survive?
Question 3 Why can life forms survive on Earth?
In 2009, NASA launched the Kepler space telescope to find life similar to humans. This mission was the beginning of a discovery to find stars with environments similar to Earth’s, and such missions will continue in the future. Imagine that one day you become an astronaut and meet beings from another star. Write a message to these beings, who have never been to Earth, explaining why life can exist on Earth.
Click here to take the quiz!What are the similarities and differences between Earth and the Moon?
Activity 1 / Follow the assembly instructions to create a solar system model that includes Earth and the Moon.
Activity 2 / Compare the sizes of the Earth and the Moon.
Look at the model you assembled and answer the following questions: How many times larger is the diameter of Earth compared to the diameter of the Moon?
What are the common features of Earth and the Moon?
Activity 3 / Write what you think or guess based on the picture.
In the past, even before humans could see Earth from space, sailors knew the Earth was round, not flat, simply by observing the ships coming into the harbor. Look at the pictures Ⓐ, Ⓑ, and Ⓒ , and write why people believed Earth was round.
