The earth looks like a big, blue marble to astronauts in outer space. It’s easy for them to see the round shape of the earth because they are so far away from it. If you want to see the whole earth at one time, you might look at a map. But mapmakers must squeeze and stretch parts of the world so that they can draw them on a flat map. That means a flat map does not show the true shape of the earth. A globe is a round model of the earth. Globes show the size, shape, and location of land and oceans. Many globes show the boundaries of different countries. Some globes show how the mountains, hills, valleys, and oceans would appear from the sky.
Do you know why most globes are tilted on their stands? It is because the earth really is tilted. It spins at a tilt as it travels around the sun. With a globe, you see part of the earth at one time. To see places on the other side, you just turn the globe.
Picture Credit : Google
