What are the phases of the Moon? - NASA
What are the phases of the Moon? Answer: The Moon orbits Earth at an average distance of 382,400 kilometers. The lunar month is the 29.53 days it takes to go from one new moon to the next. During the lunar month, the Moon goes through all its phases. You can see the phases drawn in the image below.
Why is the crescent moon sometimes lit on the bottom? - NASA
This diagram shows typical paths for the Moon during the year (and the resulting look of the waxing crescent Moon) for a specific latutude in the northern hemisphere. Notice that during winter, the Moon sets north of west and follows a path almost straight down to the horizon.
The Phases of the Moon - NASA
In the diagram above, you can see the Moon always has a lit side (facing the Sun) and a dark side (facing away from the Sun). From the Earth, we can only see the part of the Moon that is facing toward us at any time (which is often called the near side of the Moon) and we cannot see the part of the Moon facing away from Earth ( called the far ...
What is the orbital period of the Moon? - NASA
The Moon's synodic period is the time between successive recurrences of the same phase; e.g., between full moon and full moon. The Moon takes 29.5 days to return to the same point on the celestial sphere as referenced to the Sun because of the motion of the Earth around the Sun; this is called a synodic month (lunar phases as observed from the ...
Who figured out the Earth is round? - NASA
Pythagoras reasoned that if the Moon was round, then the Earth must be round as well. After that, sometime between 500 B.C. and 430 B.C., a fellow called Anaxagoras determined the true cause of solar and lunar eclipses - and then the shape of the Earth's shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse was also used as evidence that the Earth was round.
Half of the Moon is in Darkness - starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov
During the course of a month, the Moon circles once around the Earth. If we could magically look down on our solar. system, we would see that the half of the Moon facing the Sun is always lit (see image below). But the lit side does not always face the Earth! As the Moon circles the Earth, the amount of the lit side we see changes.
StarChild: Glossary - NASA
An object that revolves around a larger primary body. Satellites may be naturally occurring, such as the Moon, or they may be man-made, such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. SILICON A non-metallic chemical element. SOLAR ECLIPSE A shadow which falls on an area of Earth when the Moon moves between the Sun and ...
StarChild: The Dark Side of the Moon - NASA
The Dark Side of the Moon. The phrase "dark side of the Moon" usually refers to the side of the Moon that we cannot see from Earth. The Moon takes about 29 days to orbit the Earth. It takes almost the same amount of time to make one rotation on its axis. That is why we always see the same side of the Moon from Earth.
StarChild: The Solar System - NASA
What is the solar system? It is our Sun and everything that travels around it. Our solar system is elliptical in shape.
StarChild: Multidisciplinary Solar System Activities: Moonlight …
The Moon passes through a cycle of eight phases which repeats itself every 29.5 days. There is no definite starting point for the cycle, but phases follow one behind the other in a strict order. Below you will find photographs of each of the eight Moon phases as well as the names and a brief description of each phase.