The moon is constantly orbiting the Earth and the moon gets it's light from the sun, observers (us) on Earth see sunlight hitting the moon at different angles - thus creating the lunar phases.
Moon phases. As the moon revolves around the earth on its tilted path, (search for diagrams to find out what happens with it tilted) the light from the sun hits the moon and reflects towards earth. But we see a different amount of light and darkness depending on where it is in the orbit. This causes us to see different shapes.
The moon looks different as it orbits the earth because different portions of it are lit up by the sun and visible to the earth. Half of the moon is always lit by the sun, and half is always facing earth, and when those two halves overlap it creates the portion visible to us.
Some things that happen:* You see the Moon in different phases, as the angle Sun-Earth-Moon changes. * The tides, caused by the Moon and the Sun, become strongest when Sun, Earth and Moon are in a straight line, and weakest when they are at right angles.
Half of the moon is always lit up by the sun at any given time, and the moon orbits the Earth so us observers on Earth will see different amounts of the moon lit up. These different "shapes" we see are called the phases of the moon.
You can see the phases of the moon because you are watching the moon slowly orbit Earth. Our word "month" comes from the word "moon" because it takes about one month for the moon to go around Earth once. As it does this, we see the moon in different shapes as it circles the Earth. When the moon is between us (Earth) and the sun, we can't see it and it's called a "New Moon". As it moves around us (Earth) it "waxes" or get's bigger until it's behind us and is opposite the sun. Then it's the "Full Moon" - but it keeps going, circling us (Earth) and begins to head back toward the sun. As it does, it appears to get smaller or it "wanes", until it's between us (Earth) and the sun again. And the cycle begins again....
The moon is visible on Earth. That's where we get the idea of months from - from the different appearances of the moon at various times during its orbit around us.
the earth is in the middle the sun is ontop of the earth the moon is rotating earth
The sun is millions of times bigger than the moon, but the moon is many times closer to Earth.
The position of the Earth, Moon, and the SunHow much of the sunlit side of the Moon faces the Earth
The moon circles the Earth on a schedule that is approximately 28 days. As it does so the relationship between the Earth and the Sun changes and sunlight shines on different parts of the moon's surface, giving it a different appearance from Earth. Just as the Moon is attracted to Earth by gravity, the Earth too is attracted to the Moon. The oceans are affected by the Moon and the water rises toward the Moon, giving us tidal variations.
The full moon. Earth is ALMOST directly between the sun and moon, so the sun is "behind" us when we look at the moon. That is why the moon appears entirely lit to us, and is considered "full". If Earth IS directly between the sun and moon, which does not happen during most full moons, then there is a lunar eclipse.
The moon has an elliptical orbit around the Earth. When it is at is perigee (closest position to us) it is 31,000 miles closer then when it is at its apogee (farthest position from us)! This makes the moon look about 14% bigger and 30% brighter. see related link
As the moon circles the Earth, the shape of the moon appears to change; this is because different amounts of the illuminated part of the moon are facing us. The shape varies from a full moon (when the Earth is between the sun and the moon) to a new moon (when the moon is between the sun and the Earth).
Moon phases. As the moon revolves around the earth on its tilted path, (search for diagrams to find out what happens with it tilted) the light from the sun hits the moon and reflects towards earth. But we see a different amount of light and darkness depending on where it is in the orbit. This causes us to see different shapes.
Moon phases. As the moon revolves around the earth on its tilted path, (search for diagrams to find out what happens with it tilted) the light from the sun hits the moon and reflects towards earth. But we see a different amount of light and darkness depending on where it is in the orbit. This causes us to see different shapes.
The moon is different because it is smaller and has no living thing.The Earth has life and has lots of water for us to drink or in a sunny day we will be dead from thirst, it also has food so we can eat.=)
It's when the sun reflects off the sun from the earth