Watching the moon every month is a great way to think about both time and 3D objects. Twenty-eight days to observe and record, to think about and spot patterns. That’s what Galileo did way back in 1609 when he created a telescope that could magnify 20 x. He observed the moon each day and worked out the surface of the moon has valleys, shadows and peaks like on Earth. It was not perfectly spherical after all. And like Copernicus, Galileo believed the Sun was the centre of our system, not the Earth. Up until then Aristotle’s idea maintained the Earth was the centre of the Universe. Galileo sparked the birth of modern astronomy.
Your students can create their own daily record of the shape of the moon. Compare it with our March calendar which shows Galileo’s own recorded observations.