Monday, April 2, 2012

How phase of moon changes?

Dear Readers,
This article includes the basic facts about moon, our natural satellite.
It will fulfill your basic question.,
how phases of moon changes?
Hope you'll enjoy reading.

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth, and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. It is the largest natural satellite of a planet in the Solar System relative to the size of its primary, having a quarter the diameter of Earth and 181 its mass.

The Moon completes its orbit around the Earth in approximately 27.3 days (a sidereal month). The Earth and Moon orbit about their barycentre (common centre of mass), which lies about 4700 km from Earth's centre (about three quarters of the Earth's radius). On average, the Moon is at a distance of about 385000 km from the centre of the Earth, which corresponds to about 60 Earth radii. With a mean orbital velocity of 1,023 m/s, the Moon moves relative to the stars each hour by an amount roughly equal to its angular diameter, or by about 0.5°. The Moon differs from most satellites of other planets in that its orbit is close to the plane of the ecliptic, and not to the Earth's equatorial plane. The lunar orbit plane is inclined to the ecliptic by about 5.1°, whereas the Moon's spin axis is inclined by only 1.5°.

Lunar Phases


The Moon appears to go through a complete set of phases as viewed from the Earth because of its motion around the Earth, as illustrated in the following figure.



Add caption

In this figure, the various positions of the Moon on its orbit are shown (the motion of the Moon on its orbit is assumed to be counter-clockwise). The outer set of figures shows the corresponding phase as viewed from Earth, and the common names for the phases.
Take a look at these video clips below, that might be help you to visualize what happen actually while phase change at the outer space. The first clip shows what the Sun, Earth, and Moon might be doing, as viewed from outer space. The  2nd clip shows you what you would see if you were looking up from your place.




I hope this information might helpful to you to understand how phase change actual occurs.
Now keep in mind this information while you see the moon in the deep dark night sky.

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