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Phases of The Moon

The document describes the phases of the Moon as seen from Earth over the course of a lunar cycle. It explains that during a waxing crescent phase, a small sliver of the Moon is illuminated as the illuminated side faces mostly away from Earth. During a waxing gibbous phase, more than half of the Moon's dayside is illuminated as it progresses towards being fully illuminated. During a full Moon phase, the entire dayside of the Moon is illuminated.

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kristoferneilmanuel
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29 views2 pages

Phases of The Moon

The document describes the phases of the Moon as seen from Earth over the course of a lunar cycle. It explains that during a waxing crescent phase, a small sliver of the Moon is illuminated as the illuminated side faces mostly away from Earth. During a waxing gibbous phase, more than half of the Moon's dayside is illuminated as it progresses towards being fully illuminated. During a full Moon phase, the entire dayside of the Moon is illuminated.

Uploaded by

kristoferneilmanuel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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portion visible to us from our planet.

It Waxing Gibbous
grows daily as the Moon’s orbit carries the
Now most of the Moon’s dayside has come
Moon’s dayside farther into view. Every
into view, and the Moon appears brighter in
day, the Moon rises a little bit later.
the sky.

New Moon

This is the invisible phase of the Moon,


with the illuminated side of the Moon
facing the Sun and the night side facing
Earth. In this phase, the Moon is in the
same part of the sky as the Sun and rises First Quarter
Full Moon
and sets with the Sun. Not only is the The Moon is now a quarter of the way
illuminated side facing away from the This is as close as we come to seeing the
through its monthly journey and you see
Earth, it’s also up during the day! Sun’s illumination of the entire day side of
half of its illuminated side. People may
Remember, in this phase, the Moon doesn’t the Moon (so, technically, this would be the
casually call this a half moon, but
usually pass directly between Earth and real half moon). The Moon is opposite the
remember, that’s not really what you’re
the Sun, due to the inclination of the Sun, as viewed from Earth, revealing the
witnessing in the sky. You’re seeing just a
Moon’s orbit. It only passes near the Sun Moon’s dayside. A full moon rises around
slice of the entire Moon ― half of the
from our perspective on Earth. sunset and sets around sunrise. The Moon
illuminated half. A first quarter moon rises
will appear full for a couple of days before
around noon and sets around midnight. It’s
it moves into…
high in the sky in the evening and makes
for excellent viewing.

Waxing Crescent
This silver sliver of a Moon occurs when Waning Gibbous
the illuminated half of the Moon faces
mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny
As the Moon begins its journey back The Moon is nearly back to the point in its
toward the Sun, the opposite side of the orbit where its dayside directly faces the
Moon now reflects the Moon’s light. The Sun, and all that we see from our __Waning Crescent__
lighted side appears to shrink, but the perspective is a thin curve.
Moon’s orbit is simply carrying it out of
view from our perspective. The Moon rises
later and later each night.

__New Moon__

Last Quarter
__Waxing Crescent__
The Moon looks like it’s half illuminated
from the perspective of Earth, but really
you’re seeing half of the half of the Moon
that’s illuminated by the Sun ― or a __First Quarter__
quarter. A last quarter moon, also known
as a third quarter moon, rises around
midnight and sets around noon.
__Waxing Gibbous__

__Full Moon__

__Waning Gibbous__

Waning Crescent __Last Quarter__

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