If there is a half moon in the sky where is the other half?

Question

If you know can you explain in really simple terms please!

I think I'm starting to get it now, so there must be a time when the moon cannot be seen at all IE completly overshadowed by the Earth?

Answer 1

I think most of the others have it right. The key thing is to remember that the half of the Moon that you can't see is NOT in the Earth's shadow, but it is in the Moon's own shadow. Another way of looking at it is that when we see a "half moon", the people on the moon see a "half Earth". Where is the other half of the Earth? It is in darkness(night time) so you can't see it, but it is still there, isn't it? I hope this helps.

Answer 2

It is still there!

The moon doesn't produce its own light, like a star. The Sun does, because it is a star. Why you see the moon at night is because it reflects the light from the Sun.

If the moon is full, it means that it is exactly at the opposite from the sun and you can see the side that receives the sunlight. Then the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are in a perfect line.

If it is half full, it is because you can see only part of the lighted side. Then the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are in a perfect right angle.

AND NO it is NOT because the Moon is hidden by the Earth... that is an eclipse...!

Answer 3

To Answer your second question: The New moon as it is called can not been seen because it is between the sun and earth. So the backside of the moon is light. Happens once evey 28 days as that is the moons orbit around the earth. Long with all other phases of the moon 8 in all

the link below will clear it all up for ya

Thanks

Answer 4

This answer is simple and yet many manage to still missunderstand it. Picture this in your mind: you are the earth and your friend or little brother can be the moon. Ok, now you start to spin on your vertical axis. Instruct your friend or little brother to spin at the same rate while moving around you. If you time it correctly, your friend or little brother will always have his face facing you. Because the moon does one full orbit in about 29.5 days and also has the same "day" length, we see only the side we see. It looks like the moon is standing still, when in fact it is also rotating like the planet Earth.

Answer 5

Solve this one yourself; get a ball (baseball, softball or soccer ball) and a flashlight. Go in a dark room. Shine the flashlight on the ball. See how one side of the ball is completely lit? If you look from behind the flashlight or slightly to one side you seem to see the 'front' hemisphere of the ball completely lit.
Now move your prospective to the side; hold the flashlight out so it still shines on the ball, but you are looking at the side of the ball. What do you see? Half of the ball is lit, but if you look closely (as you can with the moon) you can still see that the 'back' face is still there, just harder to see. Move the ball so that it is between you and the flashlight. You won't see much of the front ball or lit side of the flashlight but you know that it is still there. This is like a 'New Moon'.

Answer 6

The entire moon is there but the way that the sun shines on it only allows you to see half.

Answer 7

The other half is just next to it; you can't see it because it's in the shadow!

The moon is always full; if you don't see it entirely, it doesn't mean that the rest of it has vanished; it just means that you can't see it because it's in the shadow of the planet Earth.

Answer 8

It's still there. What you're seeing is the sun's rays reflecting off just half of the moon making only half of it visable. The other half is just in the shadows.

Answer 9

It is still there. Whe we say a full moon what we are real ling saying is that you can see the full half of the moon that is visible from the sunlight reflecting of the surface.

Answer 10

The whole moon is always there no matter how little of it you see. Either fog or clouds is simply covering the over half :)