Why do I see the moon in the day time?

Question

so yeh.., why is that?? I see the sun and the moon in the daytime? xxx

Answer 1

You can see the Moon in the daytime because it is big and brightly lit by the Sun. The surface of the Moon is about as reflective as an asphalt road--rather dark but not totally black. When you look at the Moon, you are seeing the light which reflects off it. This is not nearly as bright as the Sun, but it is up to 100,000 times as bright as the brightest nighttime star.
During the day, the brightness of the sky washes out the light from the stars: a region of the sky including a bright star is only very slightly brighter than a region of the sky without a bright star, so your eye cannot notice the difference. However, the region of the sky containing the Moon is much brighter, so you can see it. You can also sometimes see Venus during the day if the conditions are right and you know exactly where to look, but anything dimmer is lost. It might be useful to think of the Sun as a large light bulb, and the moon as a large mirror. There are situations where we can't see the light bulb, but we can see the light from the bulb reflected in the mirror. This is the situation when the moon is out at night. We can't see the Sun directly because the earth is blocking our view of it, but we can see its light reflected from the moon. However, there are also situations where we can see both the light bulb and the mirror, and this is what is happening when we see the moon during the day. You can explore this for yourself with a light and a hand mirror. Depending on which way you face (away from the light or sideways to the light) you can see either just the mirror, or both the light and the mirror.

Answer 2

The short answer is because the Moon is bright enough to see in daylight.

You could see the Sun and the stars in the sky at the same time too, if the stars were brighter. It is actually kind of silly to think the Moon and Sun cannot be in the sky at the same time, because the horizon divides the whole 360 degrees of sky into two equal halves, 180 degrees of it is visible above the horizon and the other 180 degrees of it is hidden below the horizon. If the Sun and Moon are exactly 180 degrees away from each other, then one would rise just as the other set. That is in fact what happens at full moon. But at all other times they are less than 180 degrees apart and so obviously will be both in the sky at the same time for at least part of each day. Of course the stars are scattered all over the full 360 degrees of sky and half of them are above the horizon at any moment, but they are so dim you cannot see them in daylight.

Answer 3

Every 29.5 days, the Moon travels right the way round the Earth, so it is actually up during the day as much as during the night. However, it tends to be bigger and brighter at the times when it spends more time in the dark, nighttime sky, and vice versa. The brightest, fullest Moon rises around sunset and sets around dawn, but when (two weeks later) it is in the sky throughout the day it is a thin, dim crescent and just can't be seen against the bright sky. The best time to see a daytime Moon is around the first and last quarters, when it is fairly bright and is up for half the day and half the night.

Answer 4

The moon regularly traverses the daytime sky. Generally we don't see it very well because the sky is too bright and the light from the moon is swamped out. In the dark winter/autumn skies however the moon can be clearly visible in the day, particularly when the moon is nearly full and the sun is low on the horizon.

Answer 5

You're seeing the sun's reflection off the moon. It's bright enough to light up the night, and it's bright enough to be seen through the blue sky (which is itself just a refraction of the sun's light).

Answer 6

The moon must report to the sun 12 times per year to keep it advised of sinister goings-on on the dark side of the Earth.

Answer 7

The moon rotates around the earth. The earth rotates and spins around the sun. That is why you only see the sun during the day - the earth is spinning.

Answer 8

Imagine you are in a spaceship travelling around the earth. For part of your journey, you are flying over the daylit side of the earth, and for part of your journey you are flying over the nighttime side of the earth. When you are over the daylit side, people on that side of the earth can see you and the sun (which will be over your shoulder as you look down at the earth). When you are on the night side, people there will only see you.

The moon is like you in that spaceship (although it travels more slowly than spaceships do.)

Answer 9

Who says that the moon can only be seen at night? It's rotation period around the earth means that sometimes it is visible during the day.

Answer 10

because the moon is pretty reflective [albedo] you can see it during the daytime....and also because of its distance and size i guess......but you can only see the portion of the moon that is reflecting light, i.e. the face that is towards the sun, thats why you get the crescent phases....