The Phases Of The Moon
There are eight distinct phases of the lunar cycle, and each one can be viewed and enjoyed from the comfort of your home.
The Moon orbits the earth in a 29.53 lunar cycle days. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Moon travels about 382,400 kilometres in distance, during its orbit around the Earth.
All through the moon’s travels, it waxes, wanes and most times becomes invisible to us for some period of time.
What is a Lunar Phase?
A lunar phase which approximately lasts a month, is any period during the moon's regular orbit around the earth where at night, the moon appears to us in different levels of shadows. During the different phases of the moon, it appears to be either more visible or less visible all through its cycle.
Types of Moon Phases
1.) New Moon
During the lunar cycle, the “new moon” phase occurs when the earth, the sun, and the moon are in a straight line, and the moon is between the sun and the earth. The side of the moon that is facing the Sun is being lit, and it is facing away from us, while the shadowed half of the moon faces us, making it appear nearly or totally invisible. This is called the “new moon phase”.
2.) Waxing Crescent Moon
The crescent moon surfaces after the new moon. After a few days of the new moon, we see a crescent or slight edge of the Moon as it is lit up, by the Sun. This phase is commonly referred to as the “waxing crescent”. The term waxing means it is growing fuller or larger; as the Moon travels eastward in the sky .
3.) The First Quarter Moon
When a waxing moon is exactly half-lit, this is described as the first quarter moon. This means that the moon is one-fourth of its expected shape through its lunar cycle
4.) The Waxing Gibbous Moon
The waxing gibbous Moon happens when a large portion of the moon gets illuminated, by the Sun.
5.) The Full Moon
The Moon’s shape and face is completely bright at the phase of a full moon. The full moon rises almost at the very same time as when the sun is setting. When this happens we see the entire circular shape of the Moon as it appears from up above.
6.) The Waning Gibbous Moon
We see the gibbous-shaped moon in this moon phase. The brightness of the Moon gradually wanes and grows thinner. This phenomenon earns it the term of the "waning gibbous"
7.) The Third Quarter Moon
In this phase, the Moon is half-lit once again, but the left side of the Moon is illuminated instead of the right side; as was the case in the first quarter. In the third quarter case, the moon becomes three-fourths of the way to its full cycle
8.) The Waning Crescent
This is the last phase of the lunar cycle. The waning crescent occurs as a silver in the sky before it turns dark again.
What causes the Moon Phases?
Most misconceptions regarding the moon and its phases is that the phases occur when the Sun casts the earth’s shadow upon the surface of the moon.
But in reality, it is not very common for the earth’s shadow to be cast on the Moon; this is because of the Earth’s tilt. On the few occasions that such phenomenon takes place, it is known as an eclipse.
The cause of the lunar phases is actually because of the position of the Moon in relation to the Sun. When we see the shadowed or invisible portion of the moon, it is not due to the earth’s shadow. It is actually because the dark portion of the moon is the half that faces away from the sun. During the moon’s movement around the Earth, we view the moon from different angles, this leads to the view of different percentages of light and shadow.
We perceive different phases on the moon because half of the moon is always illuminated and half is always in the shadow. We however perceive the various lunar phases because of the moon’s position in relation to us.
Thank you for your time and for reading my post.
If you found this post interesting, then kindly UPVOTE, RESTEEM and FOLLOW @rickie, for more quality posts.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by Rickie from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP. Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
This post has received a 0.39 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
Nice post my friend rickie. This post very useful and very interesting. I like your post.
Beautiful post! 🌛❤ Resteemed!
This post has received a 12.80 % upvote from @aksdwi thanks to: @rickie.
You got a 4.43% upvote from @upme requested by: @rickie.
Send at least 1.5 SBD to @upme with a post link in the memo field to receive upvote next round.
To support our activity, please vote for my master @suggeelson, as a STEEM Witness