What determines what phase of the moon you see?

Answer 1

Through reflection, the sun's light allows you to see what you see as the moon. We see phases because the moon itself rotates while traveling around the Earth at the same time.
it just is
Moon phases are the different forms the Moon takes in its appearance on earth. A full moon occurs when the moons surface reflects light towards Earth. A Waxing moon is when more of the light side of the moon can be seen each night. A waning moon is when less of the light side can be seen each night. A new moon occurs when the moon is between the Sun and Earth. When a new moon appears, the dark side of the moon faces earth and light side faces the sun. When this happens, the moon is in the sky but cannot be seen. The new moon rises and sets with the sun. This is how the moon faces depends on the relative position of the sun, the moon and the earth.

A lunar phase or phase of the moon refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon and Sun. One half of the lunar surface is always illuminated by the Sun (except during lunar eclipses), and hence is bright, but the portion of the illuminated hemisphere that is visible to an observer can vary from 100% (full moon) to 0% (new moon). The boundary between the illuminated and unilluminated hemispheres is called the terminator.

Lunar phases are the result of looking at the illuminated half of the Moon from different viewing geometries; they are not caused by shadows of the Earth on the Moon that occur during a lunar eclipse. The Moon exhibits different phases as the relative geometry of the Sun, Earth and Moon changes, appearing as a full moon when the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the Earth, and as a new moon (also named dark moon, as it is not visible at night) when they are on the same side. The phases of full moon and new moon are examples of syzygies, which occur when the Earth, Moon and Sun lie (approximately) in a straight line. The time between two full moons (and between successive occurrences of the same phase) is about 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes) on average (hence, the concept of a timeframe of a period of time of an approximated month was derived). This synodic month is longer than the time it takes the Moon to make one orbit about the Earth with respect to the fixed stars (the sidereal month), which is about 27.32 days. This difference is caused by the fact that the Earth-Moon system is orbiting about the Sun at the same time the Moon is orbiting about the Earth.

The actual time between two syzygies or two phases is quite variable because the orbit of the Moon is elliptic and subject to various periodic perturbations, which change the velocity of the Moon. When the moon is closer to the earth, it moves faster; when it is farther, it moves slower. The orbit of the Earth around the Sun is also elliptic, so the speed of the Earth also varies, which also affects the phases of the Moon.[1]

It might be expected that once every month when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun during a new moon, its shadow would fall on Earth causing a solar eclipse. Likewise, during every full moon we might expect the Earth's shadow to fall on the Moon, causing a lunar eclipse. We do not observe a solar and lunar eclipse every month because the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted by about 5 degrees with respect to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. Thus, when new and full moons occur, the Moon usually lies to the north or south of a direct line through the Earth and Sun. Although an eclipse can only occur when the Moon is either new or full, it must also be positioned very near the intersection of Earth's orbit plane about the Sun and the Moon's orbit plane about the Earth (that is, at one of its nodes). This happens about twice per year, and so there are between 4 and 7 eclipses in a calendar year. Most of these are quite insignificant; major eclipses of the Moon or Sun are relatively rare.

Answer 2

The phases of the moon are determined by the location of the Earth between the moon and the sun. The earth orbits around the sun while the moon is orbiting around the earth. When the moon is in between the earth and the sun, the moon is "new." All of the suns light is hitting the side of the moon that we can't see. When the moon is on the other side of earth and the earth is between the sun and the moon, the moon is full because all the light from the sun is reflecting off of the moon on the side that we can see. Not a very good explanation, but hopefully that helps.

Answer 3

The angle at which we see the moon against the sunlight. Half of the moon is always lit, but it revolves around the earth, so we see the moon at a different angle every night, but the most significant changes occur each week of every month.

Answer 4

The Earth orbits the Sun, with the Moon orbiting the Earth. What we see as the phases of the Moon are dependent on the geometry between the Sun, the Earth and the Moon.

The biggest thing is that if the Earth were standing still and not orbiting the Sun, full moons would happen every 26 days instead of every 28.5 days. The Earth moves enough during that month so that the Moon takes an additional 2.5 days of orbiting to get back to the same relative geometry.

Answer 5

It depends on where the earth is in relation to the sun and the moon. If the moon is directly between, it is an eclipse, for the earth blocks the sun's light, therefore shadowing out the moon. In contrast, if the moon is entirely out of the way of the sun, it's light is able to reach the face of the moon, and so on. The process is the same with every phase between eclipse and full moon.

Answer 6

They don't, the Moon revolves in orbit around the sun, sometimes the Moon blocks the sun and that is called an eclipse. Hope this helped!!!

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The moons phases change as it orbits the earth. There will always be one half of the moon in light and one half in dark, the light side facing the sun and the dark half facing away. As the moon circles us, over the course of 27 days or so, we see the moons light half at different angles. Sometimes the whole of the light half as in a full moon, with the sun behind the earth shining onto the moon, and sometimes the dark half, when the moon in in front of the sun as in a new moon. Usually though its part dark and part light.

You get a good idea of how the phases of the moon relate to its orbit buy practical demonstration. Take a small ball and hold it at arms length, within a darkened room with one light source at the other side of the room (like a lamp of flashlight). The ball is the moon, the lightsource the sun and the earth is represented by your head. As you move the ball around your head at arms length, you will see how the light reflected of the ball looks like the moon.

Answer 7

Think of the angle formed by the sun, Earth, and moon, with the Earth at the vertex.

-- When the angle is zero, that's New Moon and possible solar eclipse.

-- When the angle is acute, the moon is a crescent.

-- When the angle is obtuse, the moon is gibbous.

-- When the angle is straight, that's Full Moon, and possible lunar eclipse.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Either: a. the time of the day b. the time of year c. the surface of the earth is lit up by the sun d. the surface of the moon is lit up by the sun

Answer 10

the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon