Where is the moon in the afternoon?

Question

Does the brightness of the sun cover it up....or is it on the opposite side of the sun?

Answer 1

You can even see the Moon in the daytime because it is big and brightly lit by the Sun. The surface of the Moon is about as reflective as an asphalt road--rather dark but not totally black. When you look at the Moon, you are seeing the light which reflects off it. This is not nearly as bright as the Sun, but it is up to 100,000 times as bright as the brightest nighttime star.
During the day, the brightness of the sky washes out the light from the stars: a region of the sky including a bright star is only very slightly brighter than a region of the sky without a bright star, so your eye cannot notice the difference. However, the region of the sky containing the Moon is much brighter, so you can see it. You can also sometimes see Venus during the day if the conditions are right and you know exactly where to look, but anything dimmer is lost.

It might be useful to think of the sun as a large light bulb, and the moon as a large mirror. There are situations where we can't see the light bulb, but we can see the light from the bulb reflected in the mirror. This is the situation when the moon is out at night. We can't see the sun directly because the earth is blocking our view of it, but we can see its light reflected from the moon. However, there are also situations where we can see both the light bulb and the mirror, and this is what is happening when we see the moon during the day. You can explore this for yourself with a light and a hand mirror. Depending on which way you face (away from the light or sideways to the light) you can see either just the mirror, or both the light and the mirror.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

Three answers:

With a full moon, the side of the moon facing earth is lit by the sun. The full moon is visible from earth almost the whole night and not by the day. Why not? Because if it's daytime where you live the moon is on the other side (the nighttime side) of the earth visible to the people who live there.

With a new moon, the side of the moon facing earth is not lit directly by the sun. It's just lit by the stars and light reflecting off earth. This means the moon is between the earth and the sun, but not perfectly aligned like in an eclipse. Usually the sky glows so bright during the day that the moon can't be seen. It's like trying to see glow in the dark paint on the other side of a 100 watt light bulb.

Then there's a half moon. That means half the side of the moon facing earth is lit up by the sun and the other half is just lit up by the stars and earth's reflection. I just looked outside and sure enough the bright side is clearly visible during the day but the dark half is totally invisible. I just see the blue sky where it should be.

To answer the second question, the moon is never on the opposite side of the sun. The moon is just a few light seconds away. The moon is eight light minutes away. The moon is stuck close to earth for a long time.

Answer 3

The moon is a different place each day. There's a full moon when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun. There's a new moon when the moon and the sun are on the same side of the earth.

When it's afternoon where you are, it's midnight somewhere else, but that doesn't change where the moon is. It only reflects where you are on the earth. The phases of the moon depend on the spatial relationship of the sun and moon, as seen from earth.

Answer 4

brightness of the sun as a matter of fact u can still see on most afternoons it's just not obvious like at night

Answer 5

The moon seems to dissapear at night because it goes to the other side of the world. For example... In china right now it would be night time while we have the day time, then when we have the night time and they have the day.

Answer 6

sometimes it is in the sky and sometimes on the oppisit side of the planet,, try looking for a sky chart for more details

Answer 7

My understanding is that it is still there but we cannot see it because of the light. Though don't take my word for it I could be wrong.