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Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace
Explanation:
Observe the
Moon each night and
its visible sunlit portion will gradually change.
In phases progressing
from New Moon to Full Moon to New Moon again, a lunar cycle or
synodic month
is completed in about 29.5 days.
They look full, but top left to bottom right these panels do
show the range of lunar phases for a complete
synodic
month during August 2019
from Ragusa, Sicily, Italy, planet Earth.
For this lunar cycle project the panels organize
images of the lunar phases in pairs.
Each individual image is paired with another image separated by
about 15 days, or approximately half a synodic month.
As a result the opposite sunlit portions complete the
lunar disk and the shadow line at the boundary of lunar night and day, the
terminator, steadily marches across the Moon's
familiar nearside.
For extra credit, what lunar phase would you pair with the Moon tonight?
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon - lunation
Publications with words: Moon - lunation
See also: