It's not difficult kids. The phases of the moon are purely due to what parts of the moon are illuminated by the sun.
The sun always half illuminates the moon, just like night and day on Earth. When you see a cresecent moon, and only see a "fingernail" of it, the remaining part that is illuminated is on the other side of the moon.
When its a half moon, the other bit of the illuminated half is round the other side
When its a full moon, the sun is shining full on the face we see. The back of the moon from us will be dark and in its nightime.
When the moon is new, the reverse side of the moon is illuminated and our side is dark, so we don;t see it.
If you looked back at the earth from the moon it would show the same phases in exactly the same way.
My goodness what do they teach you at school.
2006-09-18 17:55:37 · 5 answers · asked by nick s 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Well Nick, to answer your question:
The phases of the moon are purely due to what parts of the moon are illuminated by the sun.
The sun always half illuminates the moon, just like night and day on Earth. When you see a cresecent moon, and only see a "fingernail" of it, the remaining part that is illuminated is on the other side of the moon.
When its a half moon, the other bit of the illuminated half is round the other side
When its a full moon, the sun is shining full on the face we see. The back of the moon from us will be dark and in its nightime.
When the moon is new, the reverse side of the moon is illuminated and our side is dark, so we don;t see it.
If you looked back at the earth from the moon it would show the same phases in exactly the same way.
You're welcome.
2006-09-18 17:59:14 · answer #1 · answered by wupierto 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, people just have wide imagination, I used to think of it this way .. That while the moon is traveling around the earth, the sun rays get obscured by the earth and hence we get the phases.
But ... it's simply something else ::
The phases of the moon are the shapes of the sunlighted areas as seen from a given vantage point from earth.
See, there is always a complete half shiny face of the moon, and other complete dark face, and what we can see from earth depends majorly on the position of the moon ..
we can see some light, "waxing crescent" .. or sometimes we can see half "quarter" .. and so forth ..
It's lovely to know these stuff .. and to know it right !!
2006-09-19 01:06:33 · answer #2 · answered by Duda .. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its just a phase they are going through.
2006-09-19 01:29:52 · answer #3 · answered by Colorado 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm glad you educated those that didn't know. We are failing if the kids don't know the basics.
2006-09-19 01:01:15 · answer #4 · answered by fortuitousoppty 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well done on a good question.
2006-09-19 04:25:07 · answer #5 · answered by scoop405106 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋