CHAPTER ONE
The Man in the Moon
HOW DID WE GET TO KNOW THE MOON?
Long ago, people in every part of the world looked up at the sky, the same way we do now. The two most important things they saw were the Sun and the Moon.
The Sun gave a lot of light, but the Moon gave only a little. So many people thought the Sun was a man god, and the Moon a woman god — a goddess.
And people saw a face on the Moon. They called it «the Man in the Moon.» Parents still tell their children about him today.
Then people studied astronomy, and they thought about how the Moon changed. In the end, the astronomers understood. The Moon was a big ball!
They understood that the Moon and the Earth go around the Sun. The Sun shines light on half of the Earth all the time — this gives us day and night. The Sun shines on half of the Moon all the time, too. But from Earth, we can’t always see all of the light on the Moon. When the half of the Moon with light is away from us, the sky is dark. This is called a new moon. When we can see all of the light on the Moon, it’s a full moon. Between the new moon and the full moon, there are half-moons and crescent moons.
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