Friday, December 12th, 2008
Look Up, It’s the Moon
Take the kids outside this evening. Tonight’s moon will be the biggest of the year, 17,000 miles closer to us than its average distance. It will be 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual. Catch it rising at sunset when an illusion makes it appear larger than normal. To quickly understand apogee and perigee, check out this image.
Got that? It really is bigger and brighter, and the infamous near-the-horizon illusion will amplify its size even further. That’s moonrise at sunset anywhere in the world; we all experience it the same way.
Singing Laurie Berkner’s Moon, Moon, Moon, and hanging a moon night light is interesting… but bundle up your toddler and look at the night sky once in a while. This is your window of opportunity. By age 5 you’ll be getting questions too complex for you to continue passing yourself off as an astrophysicist.
You can, however, skim Wikipedia’s moon page for some factoids. For example, the dark areas of the moon are lunar mare, mostly flat plains of volcanic rock. Toddler translation: the dark spots are low flat areas with dark rock. The bright areas are hills and mountains (close enough).
Try taking your child(ren) out for a sunrise once in a while too.
I’m gladly accepting suggestions for good toddler books about astronomy. My penchant for garage sales has left me with some very nice books for the elementary school era and one that discusses an exciting new spaceship being built that will be called the Space Shuttle. There are artist’s renderings and everything.
A newer book that caught my eye at a friend’s house was Planets: A Solar System Stickerbook. The mother (a meteorologist) pointed out that it’s the only children’s book she has found that includes all of a planet’s moons in each illustration.Â It’s not a starting book for a toddler, but as a supplement the book is great (if you hide the stickers).
Have any book suggestions? Really taking your kid out tonight? Share how it turns out. We’re getting rain this evening, but we saw the moon last night (through our skylight!) and will catch it again sometime this weekend.