LUNAR PHASES

Again, today is not an official blog day, but I am blogging anyways.

Today in science, we learned about the phases and eclipses of the Moon. It takes approximately one month (28 days) for the Moon to move around the Earth en its elliptical orbit. And the Moon moves twice its diameter every hour. Also, the moon doesn't spin on its axis, like regular planets.

Lunar Phases:

New Moon: This phase, lasting only a day, is when you can't see the Moon at all. The Moon is in line with the Earth and the Sun, so half the moon is lit up, but not the half we can see. This is the only lunar phase in which you can see a solar eclipse, but those happen when the Earth and Moon are in level orbit with the Sun. Also during this eclipse, because the Moon is smaller than the earth and sun, the Moon casts a little shadow on part of Earth's surface.


Waxing Crescent: This phase, lasting about a week, is when the Moon is enlarging from a new Moon to half full, so all kinds of crescents. Waxing crescent is the time when the Moon is moving around the Earth, away from the Sun. The Sun's shadow always falls on half of the Moon, and this phase is when the Sun's shadow is covering up part of the moon. You can tell it is waxing because the Sun's shadow makes a oval on the left side of the moon.

First Quarter Moon: This phase, lasting about a day, is when the Sun's shadow covers half the part we do see and half the part we don't. So we see a half circle of light, and a half circle of darkness. At this point in time, the Moon is a quarter way through its orbit around the Earth.

Waxing Gibbous: This phase, lasting about a week, is when the Sun's shadow only covers a crescent shape of the Moon, so there is an oval shape of light showing. At this point, the Moon is moving away from the Sun, between a quarter of the way done and half way done. This is a waxing gibbous because the lighted half of the moon is on the right.

Full Moon. This phase, lasting about a day, is when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. At this point, the Moon is half way through its month long orbit. At full Moon, we see all of the Sun's light reflecting off the Moon. Since the Moon's orbit is slightly slanted, the earth is not in the way of the Moon. The Moon is slightly above earth, just enough so the Sun can reflect off of it. At this time, there could be a lunar eclipse, where the Earth would be between the Sun and the Moon, and the Earth would cast its shadow on the moon. But this can only happen when the sun, the Earth, and the Moon are in line with each other and level.

Waning Gibbous: This week long phase looks similar to waxing gibbous except on this phase, the Sun's light is on the left. At this point, the Moon is moving back around the Earth towards the Sun from being a full Moon.

Third Quarter: This phase, lasting about a day, is a lot like first quarter except for the fact that shadowed half is on the right. At this point, the Moon is three-quarters of the way around the Earth, back towards the Sun.

Waning crescent: This week long phase is similar to waxing crescent except for the fact that the light part from the Sun's reflection is on the left. At this point, the Moon is 76-99% of the way around the Earth back towards the sun.

And back to New Moon.