Phases of the Moon

The different shapes of the Moon that we see at different times of the month are called the ________ of the Moon.

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This is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the illuminated side of the Moon facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth.

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During this phase, the Moon is now a quarter of the way through its monthly journey, and you see half of its illuminated side. This moon phase rises around noon and sets around midnight.

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In this phase, we can see the Sun’s illumination of the entire day side of the Moon.

100% of the Moon's face is illuminated by the Sun

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This silver sliver of a Moon occurs when the illuminated half of the Moon faces mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny portion visible to us from our planet.

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During this phase, most of the Moon’s dayside has come into view, and the Moon appears brighter in the sky. The Moon appears to be more than one-half but not fully illuminated by direct sunlight.

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The opposite side of the Moon now reflects the Moon’s light.

The lighted side of the moon appears to shrink from 99.9% to 50.1%.

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The Moon looks like its half illuminated from the perspective of Earth, while the other half is in shadow.

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In this phase, the Moon is nearly back to the point in its orbit where its dayside directly faces the Sun, and all that we see from our perspective is a thin curve.

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Astronomically, the quarter moon is also referred to as half moon.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Answer explanation

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