Mother Earth

Mother Earth. Beautiful home to 10 million species of life, including us!. , Playing with a globe did you ever notice how perfectly South America seems like it would fit right into the side of Africa? 250 million years ago the land masses did exist as a single super continent called Pangea. Thanks to plate tectonics or continental drift, the continents broke apart and slid away on their own, moving an inch or so every year. Of course, they're still moving. As a result we get to enjoy volcanic eruptions and earthquakes!! , Quiz Time: Our seasons are the result of the Earth being closer to the Sun during the summer and farther away during winter. True or False?, Man, that one gets ‘em every time. We experience seasons because the Earth's axis is tilted!! During the summer Traverse City is pointed more directly at the Sun so the rays come pretty much straight down on us. In the winter we're pointed up away from the Sun so the rays come in at more of an angle. With this, a lot of the rays scatter in, and reflect off of, the atmosphere back into space. We receive less energy and thus it snows like crazy. Without the tilt, no seasons. Would you like it that way? Back to the issue of distance. Since our orbit is not a perfect circle, the Earth is actually 3 million miles closer to the Sun when Traverse City is having winter!! Try that one on your friends. , Our Moon. July 11, 1969 , The crew of Apollo 11 give the world a real Man on the Moon. Neil Armstrong (left), Buzz Aldrin (right) and… give ya a quarter if you can name the third guy. (He didn't even get to walk on the Moon, so why did he go along in the first place?) , Two things worth noting in the upper photograph. The footprints left by the astronauts will be there forever as there is no weather on the Moon to erode them. The American flag had a horizontal rod through the top of it since a flag can’t flap in the breeze on the Moon. When the astronauts finally lifted off from the surface, the engine exhaust blew the flag over!! Wouldn’t that be a bummer?!, Did you ever tell a friend to keep the engine running while you dash in to run an errand? Well, the guy in the car for Apollo 11 was Michael Collins. He piloted the Command Module around the Moon 15 times over 24 hours while his pals explored the surface, and made history, below. , [captions] , . Earth is groovy and we’re lucky to have her, but there are a couple of outer space accessories that would be pretty cool improvements. Like maybe multiple moons or flashy rings. , . It takes sunlight 8.3 minutes to reach the Earth. So if you’re out watching the sunset, it’s not really there, right?! It’s been gone for over 8 minutes! , . Earth at Night , 21st Century.