describe the phases of the moon with suitable example
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Answer:
The new Moon occurs when the Moon, Earth, and Sun all lie along approximately the same line. Since the Sun is behind the Moon from Earth's perspective, the side of the Moon that faces Earth is dark.
At full Moon, the three bodies also lie approximately in a line, but this time, the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth, so the Sun illuminates the whole side facing us.
At first quarter and last quarter, the Moon lies perpendicular to a line between Earth and the Sun. We see exactly half of the Moon illuminated by the Sun — the other half lies in shadow. The "quarter" used to name these phases refers to the respective fraction of an orbit that the Moon has completed since new Moon.
The illuminated part of the Moon gradually transitions between these phases. To remember the in-between phases you'll need to understand these terms: crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning. Crescent refers to phases where the Moon is less than half-illuminated, while gibbous means more than half is illuminated. Waxing means “growing” or expanding in illumination, and waning means “shrinking” or decreasing in illumination.
After new Moon, a slice of reflected sunlight becomes visible as a waxing crescent. The lunar crescent grows until first-quarter Moon. As the sunlit portion of the Moon continues to increase to more than half of the Moon's face, the Moon turns waxing gibbous. Then, after the full Moon the sunlit fraction begins to decrease again (though it still takes up more than half the face of the Moon) to make a waning gibbous and then a third-quarter Moon. The slice of sunlight continues to decrease until the moon is a waning crescent and then a new Moon. The whole cycle (from new Moon to new Moon) takes about 29.5 days.
If you have a hard time remembering which way the moon phases go, just think: “white on right, getting bright!”
- The phases of the Moon are the different ways the Moon looks from Earth over about a month.
- A phase is an angle of the moon to the earth so it appears differently every day.
- The moon goes through 8 major phases.
- The moon goes through 8 major phases.A new moon is when the moon cannot be seen because we are looking at the unlit half of the Moon. The new moon phase occurs when the Moon is directly between the Earth and Sun. A solar eclipse can only happen at new moon.
- A waxing crescent moon is when the Moon looks like a crescent and the crescent increases ("waxes") in size from one day to the next. This phase is usually only seen in the west.
- The first quarter moon (or a half moon) is when half of the lit portion of the Moon is visible after the waxing crescent phase. It comes a week after new moon.
- A waxing gibbous moon occurs when more than half of the lit portion of the Moon can be seen and the shape increases ("waxes") in size from one day to the next.The waxing gibbous phase occurs between the first quarter and full moon phases.
- A full moon is when we can see the entire lit portion of the Moon. The full moon phase occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, called opposition. A lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon.
- A waning gibbous moon occurs when more than half of the lit portion of the Moon can be seen and the shape decreases ("wanes") in size from one day to the next. The waning gibbous phase occurs between the full moon and third quarter phases.
- The last quarter moon (or a half moon) is when half of the lit portion of the Moon is visible after the waning gibbous phase.
- A waning crescent moon is when the Moon looks like a crescent and the crescent decreases ("wanes") in size from one day to the next. A waning crescent moon is when the Moon looks like a crescent and the crescent decreases ("wanes") in size from one day to the next.