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Explain Moon Phase Views - Practice 2

Use a second pair of records to explain a changing view.

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Watch the lesson | Practice 1

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Learn the skill

Outside an eclipse, sunlight reaches roughly half the whole Moon. As the Moon orbits Earth, our view of that sunlit half changes. The Moon stays whole. Quarter is a phase name: about half the visible disk looks bright at first or third quarter. Ordinary phases are not Earth-shadow events.

Worked example

A first-quarter picture has about half its visible disk bright. A full-Moon picture has almost the entire visible disk bright. Roughly half the whole Moon is sunlit in both cases. These are two selected stages, not every phase.

Worked example: first-quarter and full-Moon disks appear half bright and almost all bright. Outside an eclipse, roughly half of the whole Moon is sunlit at both stages. The disk orientation is schematic.
The example uses first quarter; the records below use third quarter. Orientation is not a sky direction.

A Later Pair of Records

Record C shows full Moon: almost all the visible disk is bright. A later record D in the same phase cycle shows third quarter: about half the visible disk is bright. Neither record is an eclipse. The supplied pictures replace any outdoor observation; never look directly at the Sun.

Question 1 Which record shows less of the visible disk bright?
Question 2 At full Moon in record C, about how much of the whole Moon is sunlit?
Question 3 What best explains the change from C to D?
Question 4 Which event would need the Moon to pass through Earth's shadow?
Question 5 A student says record D proves that the whole Moon shrank. Which reply fits the records?