12/5/2023 0 Comments Lunar cycle diagramThe word waxing means expansion or growing in the illumination. Waning means decreasing or shrinking in illumination. In the gibbous phase, the Moon will be lightening up more than half. The crescent word refers to the Moon phase where it is illuminated less than half. The four words are waning, waxing, gibbous and crescent. Simple and unique way to understand and remember the in between phases is by defining and breaking out the 4 words. Remaining half portion will be under shadow which could not be seen.īy understanding these four, key phases it would become rather easy for visualizing the illuminated portions during the transition. Because of this reason, you can see the half illuminated portion during this phase. This is going to happen when the Moon is exactly at 90 degree to the Sun and the Earth. Usually the third quarter and the first quarter are called half-moon. Due to this, the shadowed portion will be hidden from the view entirely. During this phase, the Sunlit part will be facing towards us. When a full moon takes place, sun, moon and the Earth are also positioned in approximate alignments, similar to the positions of the new moon, but you will see the Moon be present on the contradictory side of the Earth. The illuminated part of the Moon cannot be seen by us since it is present on the other side. In appropriate alignments, these three objects are placed. When the position of sun and earth is in between the Moon, then occurrence of the new moon can be seen. The moon cycle can be understood better in an order of the full moon and new moon, first quarter, third quarter and few other phases in between in this explanation. If you are willing to examine the Moon phases in details, you can take the help of Lunar Calendar for iOS or Moon Phases Calendar for Android which are the best lunar calendars for the most popular mobile platforms. For clarification purpose, this is represented in the above diagram.īy changing the relative positions or changing angles of the Earth, the Sun and the Moon, the lunar eclipse takes place. For the naked eyes, the shadowed portion will be invisible. Sometimes there are chances that you can see both shadowed and sunlit portion, this will create moon shapes of different phases which you are all familiar. This is logically correct, but you must visualize these things in order to understand the concept of moon phases better. Utter most important thing is that always one half of the Moon will be lightened up by the Sun. While doing this, you will be feeling that illuminated portion is towards your left. This imagination would be made when you are imagining the sight line. To see the waning gibbous, waning crescent and third quarter phases mentally you have to turn yourself upside down. You will see the large moon image when you are looking at that point of the cycle. The dotted lines between the Moon and earth are representing your sight line while looking the Moon. Phase name of the Moon is shown in the image. In the diagram, you can find that the 8 stages of the Moon during its revolution are shown. It isvery well recognized fact that the Earth is present at the center. In the beginning, the illustration may look complicated but it would be easy once you start understanding each concept.Īs its shown, the Sunlight is coming from the right. Why and how is this changeover taking place? The best way for understanding the Moon phases is to examine the following diagram of sun-moon-earth: You all know that a changeover is taking place in its appearance. You might have questioned at least once how the Moon phases are caused.
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