Why is the moon bright
Why do we see the moon even during the day?
The functions are clearly distributed: the Sun shines during the day and the Moon shines at night. But this is not true at all: the moon can sometimes be seen during the day – what is it doing there?
The moon will be visible even during the day.
There is a simple reason for day and night: the Earth rotates. If our position on Earth points to the Sun, that is daylight. Later, as the Earth continues to rotate, our position shifts toward the front of the Sun.
We watch the sun go down and it gets dark.
The Moon rises and sets for the same reason: because the Earth rotates. But the Moon also moves: it orbits the Earth over the course of four weeks. Half of this time is facing the Sun towards the Earth.
From there you can always see it when your position has moved away from the Sun – or in short: when it’s night. But after two weeks the Moon is facing the Sun.
So it’s the exact opposite: you can see it with the Sun on a day when your position is towards the Sun.
So the moon is sometimes visible in the day and sometimes in the night, even if it is night for us. But this is simply because the Moon is the brightest light in the night sky and therefore very noticeable.
Repeat the section “Why can we see the moon even during the day?” Proceed to the next section “How are the phases of the Moon generated?”
Why the moon is so bright?
The moon is fun: it changes shape all the time. Sometimes it’s round like a disc, sometimes just a thin scythe – and sometimes we don’t see it at all. Since then?
We can see only that part of the Moon which is affected by sunlight.
The Moon (like the Earth) does not shine on its own, we only see it because it is illuminated by the Sun.
More precisely, we can only see the crescent moon region facing the Sun. The other half does not get light and remains in darkness.
We see half of this change over the course of a month as the Moon orbits the Earth once.
When we view it from Earth with the Sun behind us, we look closer at the illuminated side and see the Moon as a fully illuminated, full circle. (hence: “full moon”)
If the Moon moves in its orbit, things change: The Sun’s rays now hit the left as we see it from us. The right edge is not illuminated, so it is not visible.
The visible part of the Moon keeps decreasing over this part of the orbit. (“Falling Moon”)
Two weeks after the full moon, the Moon is exactly in the direction of the Sun, the side in front of us completely closed – the Moon seems to have disappeared.
This moment is called the “new moon”, because the moon certainly does not disappear permanently, but it continues to run and reappear in the sky.
Because gradually some of the sun’s rays return to hit the part in front of us.
Since the receding Moon is now on the other side of the Earth when it was receding, the Sun’s rays are now coming from the right side as we see it.
At first we only see a narrow band along the edge, but it quickly expands. After a week, half of it is illuminated: we’re looking at the right edge of the light-shadow range.
And a week later we again see the Moon as a fully illuminated circle in the sky with the Sun behind us – and the process begins all over again.
“How are the phases of the Moon generated?”
When the sun or moon became dark, people feared the most: misfortune, catastrophe or even the end of the world. Today we laugh at this superstition.
However, a solar or lunar eclipse is an impressive experience. But how does this happen?
Solar Eclipse
We know: The Moon orbits the Earth.
If it moves exactly between the Earth and the Sun, it casts a shadow on the Earth. From our point of view, it therefore covers the Sun during this short period and becomes almost dark at night, although it is actually daytime.
The solar eclipse has happened.
In the case of a lunar eclipse, it’s the opposite: the Moon is just behind Earth as seen by the Sun, which casts a shadow on the Moon.
To us, therefore, the Moon appears only light, mostly reddish or brown.
But why are solar and lunar eclipses so blessed?
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