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As the moon orbits around the Earth there are different phases. When we see the moon it is because the light from the sun is being reflected off it.

Phases:

The new moon is when it's not visible because it is between the Earth and the sun.

The first quarter moon is when the right side is visible because it faces both us and the sun.

The full moon is when the moon is a complete circle in the sky because it fully faces both us and the sun.

The third Quarter moon is when the left side is visible because it faces us and the sun.
The Moon is always the same shape; it's a ball of rock.

It LOOKS different from night to night, because it goes around the Earth, once in about 28 days. It rotates once in exactly the same time. So we always see the same part of the Moon.

Remember that just like the Earth, the Sun always shines on half of the Moon, and the other half of the Moon is "night".

As the Moon orbits the Earth, different places on the Moon are in sunlight.

When the Moon is "new", it's the "daytime" half of the Moon that is facing away from us, and we're seeing the night half.

A couple of days later, the Moon has gone 1/14th of the way around its orbit, and we can see just a bit of the daytime side of the Moon.

After a few more days, we can see half of the Moon lit up - but if you look very closely, you can see the "dark" half of the Moon as well, being faintly illuminated by reflected Earthlight!

A week later, and the Moon is "full Moon" - because we're seeing the entire "daytime" half of the Moon.

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9y ago

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