My Science Library The Night Sky Kimberly M Hutmacher Science Content Editor Shirley Duke Rourke Educational Media rourkeeducationalmedia com Teacher Notes available at rem4teachers com
Hello Neighbor Earth’s closest neighbor in space is the Moon Earth orbits the Sun and the Moon orbits Earth Did you know that the Moon doesn’t give off its own light The Moon’s glow comes from sunlight reflecting off its surface Sun Nicholaus Copernicus It was once thought that Earth was at the center of our solar system In 1543 Nicholaus Copernicus published his revolutionary theory that placed the Sun at the center of our solar system 4
Astronomers are scientists who study the universe They think the Moon used to be part of Earth Billions of years ago a large body from space crashed into Earth breaking off large chunks Scientists believe the large chunks later joined together and hardened to form our Moon Moon Earth 5
