The part of moon which we see always, is it the same always? Is moon's full body reflects the light received by the Sun or only one half of its side reflects.
Is no moon day & full lunar eclipse the same?
2007-08-30 08:15:34 · 8 answers · asked by sujesh 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The Moon is tidally locked to only present one face to the Earth.
This means that the orbital period of the Moon is the same as its orbital period. This isn't an unusual phenomenon, many other astronomical bodies exhibit the same behavior.
As a satellite body rotates, it experience torque effects from the gravitational field of its parent. Over time, this torque causes the rotation to slow down. This eventually leads to the satellite adopting a stable 'lowest energy' configuration that minimizes the torque experienced, and the satellite presents only one face to its parent body.
As the Moon/Earth geometry changes, the portion of the Moon that gets sunlight changes. During the New Moon, the sunlit face is facing away from the Earth, while during the Full Moon, it is facing the earth.
An eclipse is the result of one body getting between the Sun and the other body. A Lunar Eclipse is when the Earth gets between the Sun and the Moon, and the Earth's shadow darkens the moon. This only happens when we see a Full Moon.
A Solar Eclipse is when the Moon gets between the Sun and the Earth, and what we see is the unlit back of the Moon blocking our view of the Sun. This only happens during the New Moon phase.
See the Wikipedia link below for more details about tidal locking.
2007-08-30 08:36:10 · answer #1 · answered by Gregory S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The moon always presents the same face to us because its period of rotation is the same as its period of revolution around the earth.This means one side of the moon is always locked towards the earth.This phenomenon is called captured rotation.In fact,we can actually view slightly more than half(57 percent)of its surface due to the elliptical path of the moon around the earth.
Only one half of the moon's side which is facing the sun, receives and in turn reflects the sunlight.
Full moon occurs when the earth is in between the sun and the moon.In this case, the same side of the moon will be facing both the sun and the earth and this illuminated side will be viewed from the earth as full moon day.
New Moon occurs when the moon is in between the sun and the earth.In this case one side of the moon will be facing the sun whereas the other side will be facing the earth.The side facing the earth will not be illuminated and the moon will be completely dark and this we call as new moon.
The lunar eclipse occurs only on full moon day but it does not mean that on every full moon day,lunar eclipse should occur.This can be confirmed from the fact that lunar eclipse occurs at the most three times in a year whereas full moon occurs approximately 13 times in a year.
2007-08-30 23:44:18 · answer #2 · answered by Arasan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many of the moons of the outer planets have tidally locked rotation periods like our Moon, so it's pretty common. Our Moon is in the daytime sky just as much as it's in the nighttime sky; it's just that most people don't notice it when it's out during the day. If you think about it, since it's in a regular orbit around the Earth, it has to be half the time on the daylight side of the planet, and half the time on the night side. I don't understand "Why doesn't it appear beside the sun once in a great while?" In fact, the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun once a month; that's the definition of New Moon. There is nothing unusual about the Moon's orbit.
2016-05-17 08:11:33 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We only see one side of the moon because its axil rotation and its orbit around earth are the same length, and only the part of the moon facing the sun is light, therfore we see the different phases of the moon... And the lunar eclipse is not always on the same day as a full moon...
2007-08-30 09:48:20 · answer #4 · answered by Lexington 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
see the link for the first question you have. The full moon happens when we are in between the sun and moon. The new moon (no moon) is when the moon is between the sun and earth. The moon, just like the earth is always half light up by the sun, we just don't see it all. When a solar eclipse is going on its during a new moon (no moon) and when a lunar eclipse is going on its during a full moon.
2007-08-30 08:26:40 · answer #5 · answered by Lazarus Cadaver 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes, we always see the same side of the moon. As the moon orbits the Earth (every 28 days) we slowly see the light of the sun shine first on more & more of the moon, until we see the full moon (which means the moon is at it's furthest point away from the sun, then less and less, until finally, we see no moon at all (which means the moon is at it's nearest point to the sun - and the side we're seeing is in shadow.)
A lunar eclipse only occurs when the moon is absolutely full, and it falls in the Earth's shadow in it's orbit.
2007-08-30 08:22:52 · answer #6 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes, I'm pretty sure that we always see the same side of our moon. A full moon means that the sun is shining on the whole part of the moon that we can see. No moon is the opposite.
2007-08-30 09:52:59 · answer #7 · answered by Stephen M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. we se a little more than a half of the moon's surface
2. the moon only reflect roughly half of sunlight (unless if it's lunar eclipse of course)
3. no moon day means we don't get to see the part of the moon that is reflecting sunlight at that moment. a full lunar eclipse is when the shadow of our earth fall onto the moon.
2007-08-30 08:25:26 · answer #8 · answered by dodol 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋