The Moon

When you look up at the sky on a clear night, what can you see? Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon, reflecting light from the Sun. And you always see the same side of the Moon, because it spins round on its axis once during each orbit of the Earth (which takes 27.3 days). On average (because it moves closer and further away at different points of its orbit), the Moon is 384,402 km (238,856 mi) from Earth. That’s a pretty long way – it takes a spacecraft about three days to fly there, and even light takes 1.3 seconds to reach us once it’s been reflected from the Moon’s surface. In this scene students can explore the surface of the Moon in detail and learn about the effects the Moon has on the earth and what conditions are like there.

# Learning objectives

1: What is the Moon? {.info}

2: The Moon’s Effects on Earth {.info}

3: Going to the Moon {.info}

# What is the Moon? {.objective .objective1}

4.51 billion years ago, the Moon came into being. Scientists don’t know exactly how it happened, but they think that a giant object (the size of Mars!) smashed into the Earth, blasting material out into space from both our planet and the body that hit it. These rocky pieces clumped together and formed the Moon.

Students are asked to enter the scene to explore the surface of the Moon and look for the craters, regolith and volcanic features. Imagine how it would feel to be bound along its surface.

# The Moon’s Effects on Earth {.objective .objective2}

The Moon is always closer to one side of our planet than the other, the gravitational attraction is stronger on the side of the Earth closest to our satellite. This causes tidal forces; the ocean bulges out directly under the Moon, pulled by gravity, and another bulge appears on the exact opposite side of Earth. This gravity causes high tides; the Moon moves around the Earth, and high tides move around it, too.

Students are asked to enter the scene to and to climb the volcanic hill and look out at the Earth ahead of them. Can they make out the continents and oceans below?

# Going to the Moon {.objective .objective3}

Your trip to the Moon has been very well-timed because it looks like there’s another astronaut here, too! The first human to set foot on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, is about to step down from a lunar lander as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

Students are asked to enter the scene and walk up to the lunar lander to hear Neil Armstrong’s famous speech, which he made as his boots touched down on the surface of the Moon. Now, students can walk around the lander and closely examine its construction. Remember that this spacecraft made it onto the Moon over 50 years ago. The computers on board had less processing power than a scientific calculator has today. Now, explore the lunar rover nearby. This wasn’t used by Apollo 11 but was taken to the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15 in 1971.

**Suggested Activities & Further Reading**

To explore the Moon further, check out The Moon playlist in the Physics category on ClassVR. You can use this playlist to study Earth’s nearest neighbour in space with 360 images, videos, and 3D objects.

Observe the Moon with Nasa
[NASA Daily Moon Guide](https://moon.nasa.gov/moon-observation/daily-moon-guide/?intent=021)

Discover highlights from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission in 1969
[Apollo 11 HD Videos](https://www.nasa.gov/history/apollo-11-hd-videos/)

# Teacher Resources

### Download Teacher Notes

[](lhttps://data.avncloud.com/activities/735710/files/The%20Moon+Teacher+Notes.pdf?date=1627460125&size=1038732&md5=ce43f46a724ba61322133acb434cffbb)

### Student Quiz Answers Document

[](https://data.avncloud.com/activities/794423/files/The%20Moon+Teacher+Notes+2.pdf?date=1677683345&size=523790&md5=b356769688f8ba063aec2ad56f31af73)

### Download Student Quiz Document

[](https://data.avncloud.com/activities/794424/files/The%20Moon+Teacher+Notes+3.pdf?date=1677683438&size=95477&md5=f85a4d892e607f69244cba0a871e5dd7)