The Sun-Earth-Moon System

Earth’s Motion

Earth and the Sun

If you look around you, it does not seem as if Earth
is moving. The ground, trees, and buildings do not seem to
be moving. But Earth is always in motion. It spins and
moves around the Sun. Earth’s motion causes changes on
Earth. As Earth spins, day changes to night and back to day
again. The seasons change as Earth moves around the Sun.
Summer turns to winter because Earth’s motion changes
how energy from the Sun spreads out over Earth’s surface.

The Sun
The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. The Sun is about 150
million km from Earth. The Sun is much larger than Earth.
The Sun’s diameter is more than 100 times greater than
Earth’s diameter. The Sun’s mass is more than 300,000 times
greater than Earth’s mass.
The Sun is a giant ball of hot gases. It emits light and
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

energy. Inside the Sun, the nuclei of atoms combine to

produce huge amounts of energy. This process is called
nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion produces so much energy that
the Sun’s core temperature is more than 15,000,000°C. Even
at the Sun’s surface, the temperature is about 5,500°C. A
small part of the Sun’s energy reaches Earth as light and
thermal energy.

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 Earth’s Orbit
The motion of one object around another object is called
revolution. Earth makes one complete revolution around the
Sun every 365.24 days. The path an object follows as it moves
around another object is an orbit. Earth orbits the Sun in an
almost circular path. Earth’s orbit is shown below.

Earth
Earth’s motion
without the Sun’s
gravitational pull Gravitational
pull of the Sun January 3
Earth is closest
152 million 147 million to the Sun.
July 4 km km
Earth is farthest Sun
from the Sun.

Earth’s Orbit

The Sun’s Gravitational Pull

Earth orbits the Sun because the Sun’s gravity pulls on
Earth. The strength of gravity’s pull between two objects
depends on the masses of the objects and the distance
between them. An object with more mass has a greater pull
of gravity than an object with less mass. Likewise, gravity’s
pull is greater on objects that are closer together.
Earth’s orbit around the Sun, shown above, is like the
motion of an object twirled on a string. The string pulls on

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

the object and moves it in a circle. If the string breaks, the
object flies off in a straight line. The Sun’s gravity is like the
string. Gravity keeps Earth revolving around the Sun in a
nearly circular orbit. If the pull of gravity between the Sun
and Earth stopped suddenly, Earth would fly off into space
in a straight line.

Earth’s Rotation
As Earth revolves around the Sun, it spins. A spinning
motion is called rotation. Earth rotates on an imaginary line
that runs through its center. The line on which an object rotates is
the rotation axis.
If you could look down onto Earth’s North Pole, you
would see that Earth rotates in a counterclockwise direction,
from west to east. One complete rotation of Earth takes about
24 hours. One rotation completes Earth’s cycle of day and
night. It is daytime on the half of Earth that faces the Sun. It
is nighttime on the half of Earth that faces away from the
Sun.

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 The Sun’s Apparent Motion Each day, the Sun appears to
move across the sky from east to west. It seems as if the Sun
is moving around Earth. In fact, it is Earth’s rotation that
causes the Sun’s apparent motion.
Earth rotates from west to east. This makes the Sun
appear to move from east to west across the sky. The Moon
and stars also seem to move from east to west across the sky
due to Earth’s west-to-east rotation. Earth’s west-to-east
rotation causes apparent east-to-west motion in the sky.
The Tilt of Earth’s Rotation Axis Earth’s rotation axis is
tilted, as shown in the figure below. The tilt of Earth’s
rotation axis does not change. During one-half of Earth’s
orbit, the north end of the rotation axis is toward the Sun.
During the other half of Earth’s orbit, the north end of the
rotation axis is away from the Sun.

Earth’s orbit Rotation

axis
N N
S S
December September

Sun

N Earth N
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S S
March June

Temperature and Latitude

As Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun shines on the half of
Earth that faces the Sun. Sunlight carries energy. The more
sunlight that reaches a part of Earth’s surface, the warmer
that part becomes. Because Earth’s surface is curved, different
parts of Earth’s surface get different amounts of the Sun’s
energy.

Energy Received by a Tilted Surface

Suppose you shine a flashlight onto a flat card. The beam
shines in a circle on the card. As you tilt the top of the card
away from the beam of light, the light becomes more spread
out on the card’s surface. The energy that the light beam
carries also spreads out more over the card’s surface. An area
on the surface within the light beam receives less energy
when the surface is more tilted relative to the light beam.

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 When the surface
is tilted, the light
beam is spread out
over a larger area.

The dotted line shows

the area covered by
the light beam before
the surface was tilted.
Surface is vertical. Surface is tilted.

The Tilt of Earth’s Curved Surface

Instead of being flat and vertical like the card shown
above on the left, Earth’s surface is curved and tilted,
somewhat like the card on the right. Earth’s surface becomes
more tilted as you move away from the equator and toward
the poles. As a result, regions of Earth near the poles receive
less energy than areas near the equator. This is why Earth is
warmer at the equator and colder at the poles.

Seasons
You might think that summer happens when Earth is
closest to the Sun. However, seasonal changes do not depend
on Earth’s distance from the Sun. In fact, Earth is closest to
the Sun in January! The tilt of Earth’s rotation axis and
Earth’s motion around the Sun cause the seasons to change.

Spring and Summer in the Northern Hemisphere

During one-half of Earth’s orbit, the north end of the

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

rotation axis is toward the Sun. Then, the northern hemisphere
receives more energy from the Sun than the southern
hemisphere does. See the figure on the right on the next page.
Temperatures are higher in the northern hemisphere and
lower in the southern hemisphere. Daylight hours last longer in
the northern hemisphere. Nights last longer in the southern
hemisphere. It is spring and summer in the northern
hemisphere and fall and winter in the southern hemisphere.

Fall and Winter in the Northern Hemisphere

During the other half of Earth’s orbit, the north end of
the rotation axis is away from the Sun, as shown in the left
figure on the next page. Then, the northern hemisphere
receives less energy from the Sun than the southern
hemisphere does.
Temperatures are cooler in the northern hemisphere and
warmer in the southern hemisphere. It is fall and winter
in the northern hemisphere. At the same time, spring and
summer occur in the southern hemisphere.

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 North end of rotation axis points away from the Sun. North end of rotation axis points toward the Sun.

N Northern hemisphere N
receives less sunlight. Northern
hemisphere
receives more
sunlight.
Southern
hemisphere
receives more
sunlight. Southern hemisphere
S receives less sunlight. S

Solstices, Equinoxes, and the Seasonal Cycle

As Earth travels around the Sun, Earth’s rotation axis
always points in the same direction in space. But the amount
that Earth’s rotation axis is toward or away from the Sun
changes. This causes the yearly cycle of the seasons.
There are four days each year when the direction of
Earth’s axis is special relative to the Sun. A solstice is a day
when Earth’s rotation axis is the most toward or away from the Sun. An
equinox is a day when Earth’s rotation axis is leaning along Earth’s
orbit, neither toward or away from the Sun.
March Equinox to June Solstice The north end of the
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rotation axis slowly points more and more toward the Sun. As
a result, the northern hemisphere slowly receives more solar
energy. Spring takes place in the northern hemisphere.
June Solstice to September Equinox The north end of the
rotation axis still points toward the Sun but does so less and
less. The northern hemisphere starts to receive less solar
energy. This is summer in the northern hemisphere.
September Equinox to December Solstice The north end of
the rotation axis points more and more away from the Sun.
The northern hemisphere receives less and less solar energy.
Fall takes place in the northern hemisphere.
December Solstice to March Equinox The north end of the
rotation axis still points away from the Sun but does so less
and less. As a result, the northern hemisphere starts to
receive more solar energy. This is winter in the northern
hemisphere. Earth’s seasonal cycle is summarized in the
table on the next page.

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 Earth’s Seasonal Cycle
December Solstice March Equinox
• The December solstice is on • The March equinox is on March
December 21 or 22. 20 or 21.
• The north end of Earth’s axis is • Both ends of Earth’s rotation axis
leaning farthest from the Sun. are equal distances from the Sun.
The south end is closest. • There are about 12 hours of
• The northern hemisphere has its daylight and 12 hours of night
fewest number of daylight hours, everywhere on Earth.
and winter begins. • Spring begins in the northern
• The southern hemisphere has its hemisphere.
greatest number of daylight • Fall begins in the southern
hours, and summer begins. hemisphere.

June Solstice September Equinox

• The June solstice is on June 20 • The September equinox is on
or 21. September 22 or 23.
• The north end of Earth’s axis is • Both ends of Earth’s rotation axis
leaning closest to the Sun. The are equal distances from the Sun.
south end is farthest away. • There are about 12 hours of
• The northern hemisphere has daylight and 12 hours of night
the greatest number of daylight everywhere on Earth.
hours, and summer begins. • Fall begins in the northern
• The southern hemisphere has hemisphere.
the fewest number of daylight • Spring begins in the southern
hours, and winter begins. hemisphere.

Changes in the Sun’s Apparent Path

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Across the Sky
As the seasons change, the Sun’s apparent path across the
sky also changes. In the northern hemisphere, the Sun’s path
through the sky is highest on the June solstice. Similarly, the
Sun’s path is lowest on the December solstice.

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