Why do the moon go through phases?

Answer 1

The moon goes through phases because it orbits Earth about once a month, or about every 28 days. As we look up at the moon, we are watching it slowly move east through the sky. As it gets farther from the sun, it appears to get bigger - what we call "waxes". After the full moon, the moon continues it's journey around Earth and appears to move back toward the sun. As it does, it gets smaller - or "wanes".

Answer 2

The light of the moon - is reflected sunlight. The 'phases' happen because of the way the moon orbits the earth. During its orbit, the earth casts a shadow on the moon - blotting out part of the suns rays. This creates the different phases.

Answer 3

The moon doesn't really go through phases, its just that because we are spinning around the sun, and the moon spins around us, the sun lights up different parts of the moon, which is the part we can see.

Answer 4

The moon hasn't got any light of its own, it can only reflect sunlight. When the moon circles the Earth, eventually the Earth will get between the moon and the sun, and cast a shadow on the moon. And the phase of the moon will appear to change as the moon moves in and out of Earth's shadow.
The moon orbits the earth and is illuminated by the sun. As the moon moves around the earth, we can only see so much of the part of the moon that is illuminated. When the moon is behind the earth we can see the while moon, but when the moon is in front of the earth the part of the moon that is lit is not facing us.
The shadow of the Earth projected onto the moon causes it to change phase. The moon is tidally locked with earth which means the the same side of the moon is ALWAYS facing the earth. The Earth and moon revolve around the sun so the shadow the earth casts on the moon will change based on the position of the earth-moon system relative to the sun.

The above answer is completely incorrect. Earth's shadow is not responsible for the moon's phases, as a great deal of people believe. Lunar eclipses are the only time that earth casts a shadow upon the moon. The rest of the time, the dark area you see on the moon is simply the region of the moon that is turned away from the sun. The moon is a sphere, so only one half of it can be sunlit at any moment.
The moon goes through different phases because of the position the sun, the Earth, and the moon, relative to each other.

The different phases are due to different relative angles relative to the Sun.

The phase of the moon you see depends on how much of the sunlit side of the moon faces earth.
It changes shape because the angle the moon is on. The sun reflects light off the moon, so each angle of the moon has a different shape.
These are phases due to movement of the moon between the Sun and the Earth. The moon reflects light from the sun. So, when the moon is between the earth and sun, it will hardly be seen, if at all.

The moon may appear to change shape but it never actually does, what changes is the shape of the sunlit part moon that we see. So the moon therefore appears to change shape.

Except during a lunar eclipse, half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun (the half facing the sun), and the other half is in shadow, or dark. As the moon orbits around the earth, we can see only some of the illuminated half (say a new moon), and the illuminated part appears to grow over the days as we can see more and more of it as the moon continues its orbit around the earth.

Half way around the earth, the sun, earth, and moon are lined up, and so when we look at the moon, we see the entire portion of the illuminated moon (full moon). Later, as the moon continues its orbit, the illuminated portion of the moon recedes from our view, until the sliver of the illuminated disk spins out of sight.

Because the sun is refracting light off of parts of the moon making the moon look either invisible, crescent, or full.

You're seeing the sunlight hit it at different angles. When the Sun is behind us the moon looks fuller; when the sun is off to the side you see about half the disk; with the Sun out beyond the Moon you see just a sliver or even less.

Answer 5

• If there was no phases we could die forever

Answer 6

because the moon orbits around the planet Earth, the moon reflects sun light and depending on when you stand in the world the moon will have a different phase. Hope this helps you.

Answer 7

The phases are caused by the angle that the sunlight strikes the moon.

Answer 8

because that's how God made it