Why does the shape of the moon change ?

Answer 1

Why Does the Moon Appear to Change Shape?

The Moon orbits around the Earth every 29 ½ Earth days. At all times, half of the Moon is lit by the Sun. The other half of the Moon facing away from the Sun is in darkness. As the Moon orbits around the Earth we can see more and more of its lit side. This process slowly changes. These changes are called the phases of the Moon.

Different phases of Moon-

New Moon
When the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, it is called the new moon. The new moon rises and sets about the same time as the Sun does, but we can’t see it because the side that is being lit by the Sun is the side we cannot see from Earth.

First Quarter
After about one week after the new moon, the moon looks like a half-circle, and it is called the first quarter because the moon has completed one-quarter of its orbit around the Earth. Half of the Moon’s sunlit side is now visible from Earth. The first quarter moon rises at about noon and sets at about midnight.

Full Moon
One week after the first quarter moon, the Moon has moved to a point where the Earth is between the Moon and the Sun. We can now see the entire sunlit side of the Moon. The full moon rises as the Sun sets and sets as the Sun rises.

Last Quarter
One week after the full moon, the Moon again looks like a half-circle, and it is called the last quarter because the Moon has completed all but the last quarter of its orbit around the Earth. Half of the Moon’s sunlit side is again visible from Earth. The last quarter moon rises at about midnight and sets at about noon.-

Answer 2

The shape of the moon does not change. The shape of the sunlight reflecting off of the moon appears to change because of the relative positions of the Earth, the moon and the sun during the moon's orbit around the Earth.

Answer 3

If you take a flashlight and a softball (any small spherical shaped object will do) and in a dark room hold the the ball out from your eyes and hold the flashlight in front of you so it shines the flashlight at the ball, you will see what we see at a full moon. The sun (flashlight) is on the opposite side of the earth from the moon.

If you move the flashlight so that it forms a 90 degree angle with the ball and you (ball at the corner of the angle), and shine the flashlight at the ball, you will see what is seen when the moon is half full.

Moving the flashlight around to different positions allows you to see the different phases of the moon. A new moon is when the moon is near being between you and the flashlight (sun). An eclipse of the moon occurs when it is directly in the same path between you and the sun.

The shape of the moon doesn't change, only its appearance.

Answer 4

-The moon doesn’t really change shape at all - it’s how much of it you can see that changes.
-As the moon orbits once around the Earth it rotates on its own axis so that the same side of the Moon always ends up facing us one Earth.
-The moon is made of rock. It doesn’t produce any light itself. The only way we can see the Moon is when the Sun is shining on it. So the moon has it’s own day and night just like planet Earth.
-We see different Moon shapes depending on whether it’s day or night on the side of the Moon that’s facing us.
-When the Sun is setting behind the Moon in the late afternoon sky we will only see a sliver of the Moon in the West. But if the Moon is rising in the East in the early evening we will see all of the setting sun shining on its face and the Moon will have a full round shape.

For explanation with pictures-
http://ncsdweb.ncsd.k12.wy.us/planetarium/phases.html

Answer 5

The moon is only seen by the sun reflecting off of it, so as the earth rotates with the moon rotating around it the sun's angle on the moon changes and you see a moon that appears to changes shapes but is the same all along.

Answer 6

http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/kochel/classes/cosmology/Phases%20of%20Moon.jpg ----this will bring you to a picture of the different phases of the moon.


From any location on the Earth, the Moon appears to be a circular disk which, at any specific time, is illuminated to some degree by direct sunlight. Like the Earth, the Moon is a sphere which is always half illuminated by the Sun, but as the Moon orbits the Earth we get to see more or less of the illuminated half. During each lunar orbit (a lunar month), we see the Moon's appearance change from not visibly illuminated through partially illuminated to fully illuminated, then back through partially illuminated to not illuminated again. Although this cycle is a continuous process, there are eight distinct, traditionally recognized stages, called phases. The phases designate both the degree to which the Moon is illuminated and the geometric appearance of the illuminated part. These phases of the Moon, in the sequence of their occurrence

Answer 7

The shape of the moon does not change. You see different amounts of light reflected from the moon, as it travels around the earth. So at Full moon, the earth is not blocking the sun from the moon and at New Moon (silly name because it is all dark) the earth is blocking all the light from the sun to the moon.

Answer 8

It is a ball with one side lit up by the Sun and the other half dark, but which part, light or dark, we see depends on its position in its orbit around the Earth. Notice that the crescent moon is always near the Sun, setting shortly after the Sun does or rising shortly before the Sun does; and the full moon is always opposite the Sun, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.

Answer 9

Due to the changing length of the shadow of the earth cast on the moon due to sun light

Answer 10

actually shape of moon never changes...moon is always the same,,,but to people on earth moon is visible bcoz of sunlight that falls on moon,,,,that portion of moon is visible to us upon which sunlight falls, and the portion that does not receives moonlight is not visible to us,,,hence its not the shape thats changing,,its pattern of sunlight falling on moon thats changing...