Astronomy for kids - Use the Moon as Bait
Astronomy for kids is not as far fetched as some people think. Astronomy can be a life long activity. Yet, it's a good hobby for children, too. There are a lot of sources of information for astronomy for kids who are into studying the planets, the solar system, the universe and everything else that's part of this fun science. Children are attracted to many aspects of astronomy. These include the moon, the stars and far distant galaxies.

The moon is Earth's only satellite. It orbits our planet once every 27.3 days. Being so near, it has hosted the only human footsteps on a space object other than the Earth. The moon is important for the Earth because it causes the tides through gravitational forces between the Earth and the moon. The moon is the portal to astronomy for kids. Because it's close enough to see clearly with the naked eye, children are often attracted to astronomy by it. Children can learn about the moon and its phenomena with an interactive moon atlas and astronomy software tool. Interest children in science and astronomy by bringing them up close and personal with the moon using this astronomy and moon atlas software.

Then there's our sun. The sun is a long way away from us. We are between 91 and 94 million miles from the sun. The reason for the variance is Earth's elliptical orbit. If there were no sun, we wouldn't be alive. The sun provides both light and heat to the planet. Most people don't realize that the sun accounts for around 98% of all the mass in the solar system. What a hog.

We live in the Milky Way Galaxy. It's full of space stuff. Most of the area in a galaxy is filled with nothing, just empty space. That means most of 3,000 light years high by 100,000 light years wide, the size of our galaxy, is empty. The center of our galaxy is about 30,000 light years from Earth. The nothingness is broken up by over 100 billion stars. The galaxy's name comes from the many stars near the center. People thought it looked like a stream of milk, so called it the Milky Way. It's a spiral galaxy, one of four major types of galaxies in the universe. The others are elliptical, lenticular and irregular.

There is a lot of information about astronomy for kids on the Internet. Children could spend hours wrapped in detailed 3D representations of the universe around us. And since the moon is the perfect gateway to astronomy for kids, an interactive moon atlas and astronomy program can really get them hooked. So check it out.