The Universe
Yours to Discover
NOTE: The Earth to Moon Distance in this video is Not to Scale
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Please note that the size of the Earth and the Moon in this video are to scale, but the distance between the Earth and the Moon is NOT to scale. The Moon is actually much farther away from the Earth than it appears in this video.
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There are 8 Phases of the Moon and below we're going to go through them one by one.
Afterward, there is a video that you may enjoy watching that will hopefully reinforce all this information. Please note that the size of the Earth, Moon, and Sun in this diagram are to scale. Also, the distances between the Earth, Moon, and Sun are not to scale. |
In position 2, the side of the Moon that is illuminated is only facing Earth a little bit and so we only see a little bit of the Moon illuminated. This is called a Waxing Crescent Moon and as you can see at the bottom of the diagram, where it is labelled "2" the Moon appears to have a crescent shape.
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In position 3, we can see (from here on Earth) one-half of the side of the Moon that is illuminated. This is called a First Quarter Moon because at this point, the Moon has travelled one-quarter of the way around the Earth. The Moon appears one-half lit up at this point, as you can see by taking a look at the view of the Moon labelled "3" at the bottom of the diagram.
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Now the Phases of the Moon repeat, but in reverse. In position 6, we can no longer see the entire illuminated side of the Moon, but we can see a lot of it. This is called a Waning Gibbous Moon and it looks just like what you see in the view of the Moon labelled "6" at the bottom of the diagram. Please notice how it resembles the other Gibbous Moon, the one that is labelled "4" at the bottom of the diagram.
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In position 7, we can see (from here on Earth) one-half of the side of the Moon that is illuminated. This is called a Third Quarter Moon or a Last Quarter Moon because at this point, the Moon has travelled three-quarters of the way around the Earth or you could say it only has one last-quarter to go before it has completed its trip around the Earth. Please notice how it resembles the other Quarter Moon, the one that is labelled "3" at the bottom of the diagram.
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In position 8, the side of the Moon that is illuminated is only facing Earth a little bit and so we only see a little bit of the Moon illuminated. This is called a Waning Crescent Moon and it looks just like what you see in the view of the Moon labelled "8" at the bottom of the diagram. Please notice how it resembles the other Crescent Moon, the one that is labelled "2" at the bottom of the diagram.
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