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MoonPhases/LunarPhasesExplained

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UnderstandingTheMoonPhases
Haveyoueverwonderedwhatcausesthemoonphases?Weallknowthatitsappearancechangesover
time.Butwhy?Thegoodwaytounderstandthephasesofthemoonistoexamineanearthmoonsun
diagram:

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DiagramExplanation
Theillustrationmaylookalittlecomplexatfirst,butit'seasytoexplain.
Sunlightisshowncominginfromtheright.Theearth,ofcourse,isatthecenterofthediagram.The
moonisshownat8keystagesduringitsrevolutionaroundtheearth.Themoonphasenameisshown
alongsidetheimage.Thedottedlinefromtheearthtothemoonrepresentsyourlineofsight
whenlookingatthemoon.Thelargemoonimageshowswhatyouwouldseeatthatpointinthecycle.
Forthewaninggibbous,thirdquarter,andwaningcrescentphasesyouhavetomentally
turnyourselfupsidedownwhenimaginingthelineofsight.Whenyoudothis,you'll"see"thatthe
illuminatedportionisonyourleft,justasyouseeinthelargeimage.
Oneimportantthingtonoticeisthatexactlyonehalfofthemoonisalwaysilluminatedbythesun.Of
coursethatisperfectlylogical,butyouneedtovisualizeitinordertounderstandthephases.Atcertain
timesweseeboththesunlitportionandtheshadowedportionandthatcreatesthevariousmoon
phaseshapesweareallfamiliarwith.Alsonotethattheshadowedpartofthemoonisinvisibletothe
nakedeyeinthediagramabove,itisonlyshownforclarificationpurposes.Finally,pleaserealizethis
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diagramisonlymeanttodemonstratehowthephasesworkthesmallinnermoonsinthediagramdo
notshowthefactthatthesamesideofthemoonalwaysfacesEarth.
Sothebasicexplanationisthatthelunarphasesarecreatedbychangingangles(relativepositions)of
theearth,themoonandthesun,asthemoonorbitstheearth.
Ifyou'dliketoexaminethephasesofthemoonmoreclosely,viacomputersoftware,youmaybe
interestedinthismoonphasescalendarsoftware.

MoonPhasesSimplified
It'sprobablyeasiesttounderstandthemooncycleinthisorder:newmoonandfullmoon,firstquarter
andthirdquarter,andthephasesinbetween.
Asshownintheabovediagram,thenewmoonoccurswhenthemoonispositionedbetweenthe
earthandsun.Thethreeobjectsareinapproximatealignment(why"approximate"isexplained
below).Theentireilluminatedportionofthemoonisonthebacksideofthemoon,thehalfthatwe
cannotsee.
Atafullmoon,theearth,moon,andsunareinapproximatealignment,justasthenewmoon,but
themoonisontheoppositesideoftheearth,sotheentiresunlitpartofthemoonisfacingus.The
shadowedportionisentirelyhiddenfromview.
Thefirstquarterandthirdquartermoons(bothoftencalleda"halfmoon"),happenwhenthe
moonisata90degreeanglewithrespecttotheearthandsun.Soweareseeingexactlyhalfofthe
moonilluminatedandhalfinshadow.
Onceyouunderstandthosefourkeymoonphases,thephasesbetweenshouldbefairlyeasyto
visualize,astheilluminatedportiongraduallytransitionsbetweenthem.
Aneasywaytorememberandunderstandthose"between"lunarphasenamesisbybreakingoutand
defining4words:crescent,gibbous,waxing,andwaning.Thewordcrescentreferstothephaseswhere
themoonislessthanhalfilluminated.Thewordgibbousreferstophaseswherethemoonismore
thanhalfilluminated.Waxingessentiallymeans"growing"orexpandinginillumination,andwaning
means"shrinking"ordecreasinginillumination.
Thusyoucansimplycombinethetwowordstocreatethephasename,asfollows:
Afterthenewmoon,thesunlitportionisincreasing,butlessthanhalf,soitiswaxingcrescent.After
thefirstquarter,thesunlitportionisstillincreasing,butnowitismorethanhalf,soitiswaxing
gibbous.Afterthefullmoon(maximumillumination),thelightcontinuallydecreases.Sothewaning
gibbousphaseoccursnext.Followingthethirdquarteristhewaningcrescent,whichwanesuntil
thelightiscompletelygoneanewmoon.

TheMoon'sOrbit
Youmayhavepersonallyobservedthatthemoongoesthroughacompletemoonphasescycleinabout
onemonth.That'strue,butit'snotexactlyonemonth.Thesynodicperiodorlunationisexactly
29.5305882days.It'sthetimerequiredforthemoontomovetothesameposition(samephase)as
seenbyanobserveronearth.Ifyouweretoviewthemooncyclingtheearthfromoutsideoursolar
system(theviewpointofthestars),thetimerequiredis27.3217days,roughlytwodaysless.This
figureiscalledthesiderealperiodororbitalperiod.Whyisthesynodicperioddifferentfromthe
siderealperiod?Theshortanswerisbecauseonearth,weareviewingthemoonfromamoving
platform:duringthemooncycle,theearthhasmovedapproximatelyonemonthalongitsyearlong
orbitaroundthesun,alteringourangleofviewwithrespecttothemoon,andthusalteringthephase.
Theearth'sorbitaldirectionissuchthatitlengthenstheperiodforearthboundobservers.
Althoughthesynodicandsiderealperiodsareexactnumbers,themoonphasecan'tbeprecisely
calculatedbysimpledivisionofdaysbecausethemoon'smotion(orbitalspeedandposition)isaffected
andperturbedbyvariousforcesofdifferentstrengths.Hence,complexequationsareusedtodetermine
theexactpositionandphaseofthemoonatanygivenpointintime.
Also,lookingatthediagram(andimaginingittoscale),youmayhavewonderedwhy,atanewmoon,
themoondoesn'tblockthesun,andatafullmoon,whytheearthdoesn'tblocksunlightfrom
reachingthemoon.Thereasonisbecausethemoon'sorbitabouttheearthisabout5degreesofffrom
theearthsunorbitalplane.
However,atspecialtimesduringtheyear,theearth,moon,andsundoinfact"lineup".Whenthe
moonblocksthesunorapartofit,it'scalledasolareclipse,anditcanonlyhappenduringthenew
moonphase.Whentheearthcastsashadowonthemoon,it'scalledalunareclipse,andcanonly
happenduringthefullmoonphase.Roughly4to7eclipseshappeninanygivenyear,butmostof
themminoror"partial"eclipses.Majorlunarorsolareclipsesarerelativelyuncommon.
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MoonSoftware
Ifyouwanttofollowthephasesofthemoon,youshoulddefinitelytakealookatQuickPhasePro,our
flagshipmoonsoftwareproductforyourpersonalcomputer.Thisattractiveandfunsoftwarecovers
thousandsofyearsofpastandfuturemoonphasesandiseasytouse.

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