5-ESS1 Stars, the sun and daily/seasonal patterns
Aligned to 5-ESS1 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
The sun is a star, and it looks huge and bright only because it is much closer to us than other stars. Other stars are also giant suns, but they look like tiny dots because they are so far away. Earth's spinning gives us day and night, and its tilted orbit around the sun gives us seasons.
Worked example
At night a star like Sirius looks like a faint dot, yet it is actually larger and hotter than our sun. It only seems tiny because it is trillions of miles farther away than our nearby sun.
Practice questions
- Why does the sun look so much bigger than other stars?
- What causes day and night on Earth?
- Explain why distant stars appear so small even though they are huge.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
5-ESS1 Las estrellas, el sol y los patrones diarios y estacionales
El sol es una estrella, y se ve enorme y brillante únicamente porque está mucho más cerca de nosotros que las demás estrellas. Las otras estrellas también son soles gigantes, pero se ven como puntitos porque están muy lejos. La rotación de la Tierra nos da el día y la noche, y su órbita inclinada alrededor del sol nos da las estaciones del año.
Ejemplo: De noche, una estrella como Sirius parece un puntito tenue, pero en realidad es más grande y más caliente que nuestro sol. Solo parece pequeña porque está a billones de millas más lejos que nuestro sol cercano.
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