SC.4.E.5.1 Stars, Constellations, and Seasons

SC.4.E.5.1 Observe that the patterns of stars in the sky stay the same although they appear to shift across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.

What Are the Patterns of Stars in the Sky?

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. All stars including the Sun produce energy, some of it in the form of light. From our position, or place, on Earth, the Sun appears to move across the sky. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

The reason that the Sun appears to move across the sky is that the Earth is moving, and we are moving with it. We can’t feel the Earth moving, but we do observe the effects of the rotation of the Earth on its axis.

The Earth rotates, or spins on its axis. The teacher’s chair in a classroom usually spins around. The chair spins on a post in the center. Spinning in a teacher’s chair simulates the spinning of the Earth on its axis. An axis is the imaginary line around which an object spins. The Sun and the moon also rotate on an axis.

The Earth rotates on is axis once every twenty-four hours. This is one day. In the morning, the Earth is rotating on its axis and the Sun appears to rise in the sky. The Sun appears to move across the sky until it sets.

When the Sun sets and the sky is no longer so bright, stars begin to appear in the sky. They have been there all day. We could not see them because the Sun was so bright. The stars, just like the Sun, appear to rise in the east and set in the west. All stars, including the Sun, produce their own light.

On some nights during the month the moon also appears to rise. The moon does not produce its own light. The moon reflects the light of the Sun. The Sun, the moon, and the stars all appear to move across the sky due to the rotation of the Earth on its axis. It is we who are moving, not the objects of the sky.