Worksheet: When Dragons Eat the Sun
Name_______________________________________ Date_________________________
1. What city and state did you select?
2. Why are all the things in the sky moving together?
3. What is happening to all the things in the East sky?
4. What is happening to all the things in the West sky? Why?
5. In real life, why can't you see stars and planets during the daytime?
6a. How would you describe the movement of
the objects in the North sky?
6b. Is there one star that seems to be standing still? Why?
6c. What is the name of this star?
6d. Why would that star be of greater
interest to sailors than other stars?
7. What happens to the movement of the stars when you set the time step to "solar days"?
8. How many days does it take the moon to make one cycle through
the sky, returning to its original position?
9a. Describe the path of the noon sun over the seasons (summer, fall, winter, spring).
9b. Why does the moon have phases?
9c. Which other planets have phases? Why just those?
10a. Which is the slowest moving planet in the sky? Why is it such a slowpoke?
11b. Why do the stars jerk every 4 years when the time step is set to "years"?
11. a. What causes a solar eclipse?
11b. What is the difference between a partial solar eclipse and a total solar eclipse?
11c. What does a total solar eclipse look like on earth?
11d. Why do you have to be in just the right place on earth to see a total solar eclipse?
11e. Estimate the speed with which the totality spot moves across southern Africa
during the total eclipse of June 21, 2001.
11f. Could you keep up with it in a speeding car? Why or why not?
11g. How old will you be when the next total solar eclipse is visible from the
United States?
11h. Draw a sketch of the sun at the closest approach to totality during
the eclipse of the August 21, 2017, as viewed from your home location.
11i. Is the eclipse more or less total when viewed from Orlando, Florida?
11j. What is the best place you can find to view the total eclipse?