Lunar phases for Brownies - an opportunity for pedants;-)

Hi ,

Some of you may remember my recent post about errors in the guidance
documentation given to Brownies and leaders for the Stargazer Badge. Well,
as expected I have now been offered the job of rewriting it! I have had a
go but I thought I would let others comment/ try their hand. Remember it
has to cover the same points and fit in the same space (mine has 86 words)
I am afraid there are no prizes and I of course reserve the right to ignore
any advice given ;-)

Here is the original and my (hopefully) correct attempt

Original:-

The moon is the brightest object in the night sky. Unlike stars, it does not
give off light of its own. Its 'light' is a reflection of the sun's rays.
The moon appears as shapes (or phases) when the Earth comes between the sun
and the moon, casting a shadow. The moon completes its orbit of the earth
every 29 days. The current phase of the moon along with its setting and
rising times can usually be found in newspapers.

Corrected:-

The Moon is the brightest object in the night sky. We see it because it
reflects sunlight. The Sun shines on one half of the Moon (like day and
night on Earth). The shape (phase) depends on how much of the lit side we
see. This changes with the Moon's position in it's orbit round the earth. We
see a full moon every 29 1/2 days when Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of
the Earth. Newspapers usually publish the phase and rising and setting
times.

Robin
----------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Leadbeater
N54.75 W3.24
www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.uk/astro.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------

Robin
That seems like as good an explanation as is possible in a written
paragraph. I think its quite a tricky thing to describe in words, especially
for kids to grasp. Much easier using a model or diagram I reckon.

"Geoff Smith" wrote in message
...
Robin
That seems like as good an explanation as is possible in a written
paragraph. I think its quite a tricky thing to describe in words,
especially
for kids to grasp. Much easier using a model or diagram I reckon.

Thanks Geoff,

There was a diagram (also incorrect!) I plan to replace it with the classic
one, something along these lines.

Nothing beats the ball and torch demo IMO though;-)

http://www.opencourse.info/astronomy...on/moon_phases
..gif

Robin

There was a diagram (also incorrect!) I plan to replace it with the
classic
one, something along these lines.

Nothing beats the ball and torch demo IMO though;-)


Absolutely! Much more likely to get a real understanding of it that way.

"Robin Leadbeater" wrote:

The moon is the brightest object in the night sky. Unlike stars, it does not
give off light of its own. Its 'light' is a reflection of the sun's rays.
The moon appears as shapes (or phases) when the Earth comes between the sun
and the moon, casting a shadow. The moon completes its orbit of the earth
every 29 days. The current phase of the moon along with its setting and
rising times can usually be found in newspapers.

Corrected:-

The Moon is the brightest object in the night sky. We see it because it
reflects sunlight. The Sun shines on one half of the Moon (like day and
night on Earth). The shape (phase) depends on how much of the lit side we
see. This changes with the Moon's position in it's orbit round the earth. We
see a full moon every 29 1/2 days when Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of
the Earth. Newspapers usually publish the phase and rising and setting
times.

Robin

You have kept admirably close to the original while removing the
error. But I do think the original was not only wrong but pitched its
language too high for youngish children. For instance young children,
think reflecting light is something that shiny things like mirrors and
ponds do - not something that a beach or a carpet does, let alone that
round thingy in the night sky. And there is always a problem with
movement - moving is what F1 cars do, not what the hour hand of a
clock does, never mind something that is about 60 times slower than an
hour hand.

So how about:

The Moon seems to change its shape every night because we can only see
the part of the Moon that is lit up by the Sun. The Sun can't shine on
all of the Moon at the same time, so, just like our Earth, the Moon
has a night side and a day side. Sometimes the day side is facing
staright at us and we see the Moon as a full circle which is called a
Full Moon. Sometimes we can't see the Moon at all because it's night
side is facing us. This is called a New Moon. Mostly when we look at
the Moon some of its day side and some of its night side is facing us.
As we can only see the day part, it looks like a circle with the night
part missing. It takes 29 1/2 days for the Moon to shrinks from Full
Moon to New Moon and back again to Full Moon. The different shapes we
can see are called phases and they change as the Moon goes, very
slowly, round the Earth. Can you tell how long it takes to go round?
You can find out when you can see the Moon and what phase will be
showing tonight in a newspaper.

-------------

It's obvious that this is going to be too long - but simple
explanation is an art that makes the head hurt and mine is hurting
now. I'd love to mention that Moon can very often be seen in daytime -
kids so seldom lift their eyes up to the sky and are seldom out after
dark nowadays.

Cheers

Martin

--------------
Martin Frey
N 51 02 E 0 47
--------------

Very good text, but please delete the intrusive apostrophe. (you did say an
opportunity for pedants!)

John Moore

"John Moore" wrote in message
...
Very good text, but please delete the intrusive apostrophe. (you did say
an
opportunity for pedants!)


It's a good job someone is paying attention ;-)

Robin

"Martin Frey" wrote in message
...

You have kept admirably close to the original while removing the
error. But I do think the original was not only wrong but pitched its
language too high for youngish children. For instance young children,
think reflecting light is something that shiny things like mirrors and
ponds do - not something that a beach or a carpet does, let alone that
round thingy in the night sky. And there is always a problem with
movement - moving is what F1 cars do, not what the hour hand of a
clock does, never mind something that is about 60 times slower than an
hour hand.

So how about:

The Moon seems to change its shape every night because we can only see
the part of the Moon that is lit up by the Sun. The Sun can't shine on
all of the Moon at the same time, so, just like our Earth, the Moon
has a night side and a day side. Sometimes the day side is facing
staright at us and we see the Moon as a full circle which is called a
Full Moon. Sometimes we can't see the Moon at all because it's night
side is facing us. This is called a New Moon. Mostly when we look at
the Moon some of its day side and some of its night side is facing us.
As we can only see the day part, it looks like a circle with the night
part missing. It takes 29 1/2 days for the Moon to shrinks from Full
Moon to New Moon and back again to Full Moon. The different shapes we
can see are called phases and they change as the Moon goes, very
slowly, round the Earth. Can you tell how long it takes to go round?
You can find out when you can see the Moon and what phase will be
showing tonight in a newspaper.

-------------

It's obvious that this is going to be too long - but simple
explanation is an art that makes the head hurt and mine is hurting
now. I'd love to mention that Moon can very often be seen in daytime -
kids so seldom lift their eyes up to the sky and are seldom out after
dark nowadays.

Hi Martin,

I agree and I like your simple text. In fairness to the original text, it
was really aimed at leaders to describe the knowledge the Brownies should
have for their badge. I think the idea is for the leader to expand on it. It
does require them to be able to put it across to the Brownies though, which
would need more familiarity with the subject than just reading the text. I
guess that is where we as the local friendly astronomers come in!

Robin

Robin Leadbeater wrote:
Corrected:-

The Moon is the brightest object in the night sky. We see it because it
reflects sunlight. The Sun shines on one half of the Moon (like day and
night on Earth). The shape (phase) depends on how much of the lit side we
see. This changes with the Moon's position in it's orbit round the earth. We
see a full moon every 29 1/2 days when Moon and Sun are on opposite sides of
the Earth. Newspapers usually publish the phase and rising and setting
times.

Two things -- I like Martin's rewrite but it's a bit too long and too
wordy. Perhaps you could combine the two somehow or use parts of his?
The other thing is the first sentence: I'm not sure it's really
necessary to point out that the Moon is the brightest object in the
night sky. If you do--please be aware of the very common misconception
that the moon can only be seen at night... perhaps that should be
addressed directly somehow.

Clear skies,
Greg

--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in
:


http://www.opencourse.info/astronomy...on_moon/moon_p
hases .gif

Robin

That's very nice, Robin; my problem always was that I did not concieve
how far the sun is away, even though I *knew* IYSWIM.

So I could not understand how the moons phase did not change as it went
around us.

Finally I got the idea that thr moon and sun make a relatively static
system, which we twirl round underneath, and all became clear.

I don't know if you could convey this, but if someone had told me when I
was a Brownie it would have saved about 50 years of confusion, and even
then I finally worked it out for myself.

Perhaps it's (correct apostrophe) one of those things that the
knowledgeable know, and don't realise muppets don't

PS Pedantic note;

The Oxford Companion to the English Language says that the use of the
apostrophe to mark possession started in the 16th Century and is now
standard, although there is no clear date when it became the norm.
Apparently it began as a contraction of the OE genitive suffix -es.

Anyhow it's ok now, and it's the brownie's author who needs some slaps
for her text's English, as well as it's astronomy

mike r