Would a half Moon be half as bright as a Full Moon?

Answer 1

I'm a little surprised you wouldn't just go outside and look.

Answer 2

Kihila almost has the right idea but used the wrong words.

A half moon is officially called a QUARTER MOON, to clarify when we see half of the circle lit up, it is called a quarter moon.

As people have stated, the sun is still hitting half of the moon, but we only see half of that since we can only see half of the sun. So at any given time there is half of the moon illuminated but depending on our angle with it and the sun, we often only see part of this.

So during a "quarter moon" (or half moon as you are calling it) we only see half of what is lit.

During a full moon we see the entire side of the moon that is lit. So all of that light is reflected to the Earth, with a "quarter moon" only half of that light is reflected to Earth with the other half reflected away, so yes, the moon appears 1/2 as bright as it did during a full moon. This makes sense since during a New Moon (when we only see the shadow side) practically no sun light is reflected from the moon to the Earth.

The problem concerning the shape of the lit area when there is more or less than a "quarter moon" that was brought up I believe is irrelivant though. If half of a "quarter moon" (what she called a quarter moon, 1/4 of the side that faces us is lit, is lit then that reflects 1/4th the light of a full moon. The shadow curves with the surface... it is like lines of longitude on the Earth, they split us into equal sections, because they fallow the curve. If the line of the shadow was always straight up and down *then* we would have to worry about calulating the area that way.

Answer 3

When the Moon is half in the sky, it's because we're seeing it by the side. There is still a whole half lighted by the Sun, but the Earth is not positionned right for us to see the Moon from the front. (It is NOT because the Moon is in the Earth shadow, that's an eclipse, a totally different phenomenon.)
As for the brightness we see in the sky from down here. A half moon seems less bright to us because only half of the light reflected from the Sun is reflected toward us.
Beware though, anything in between must be calculated to the ratio of area we see (radius squared times pi) so a quarter moon is not a quarter less bright.

Answer 4

Steve's reaction is stable on, yet there is yet another ingredient that complicates the question as properly. Earth's orbit around the solar isn't around, this is eliptical. for this reason the area from the solar to the Moon would be particularly distinctive at distinctive stages (greater or less 2 weeks between an entire moon and a a million/2 moon). This distinction in distance ought to have an somewhat easy effect interior the quantity of seen easy contemplated off of the exterior of the moon. besides to this distinction is that a man or woman ought to be waiting to repeat the test. for this reason this is going available to record the months used for assessment. In different words, the pictures used from March 15 does no longer be such as those from June 15, September 15 or January 15. to regulate the test you may actually desire to verify the luminosity while the Moon is on an identical distance from the solar for the two a million/2 and finished stages, yet then you definately could be forced to handle Steve's concern. the two way regardless of the undeniable fact that, is there a income to this line of inquiry? perhaps once you place up your answer you may come across the WHY, and that could get people to think of approximately this question in distinctive strategies.

Answer 5

Grin me again

No the suns rays will bounce off the moons surface with same intensity / brightness no matter if the visable part of the moon is full or otherwise.

the moon changes from full to no moon because of the shadow cast on it by earth

cheers

I stand corrected I was thinking of an elipse... in either case it is still the same brightness....

also have a great weekend, wish i was drinking shiraz, my knock off time soo too, but have to work tomorrow 2...... dammed

Answer 6

No!


Becuase then it would reflect mor of the sun.
If u have a thick glas window only some of it reflects and a thin sliver reflects alot more!