This diagram is not to scale. In reality, the Moon is ¼ the diameter of the Earth and its orbit's width is about 60 times the

Earth's diameter.

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Phases of the Moon

The different shapes the moon has when seen from Earth

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Moon = Luna

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Natural Satellite

• A natural satellite is an object that orbits a planet or other body larger than itself and which is not man-made.

• The moon is a natural satellite.

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Artificial Satellites

• An artificial satellite is a manufactured object that continuously orbits Earth or some other body in space. Most artificial satellites orbit Earth. People use them to study the universe, help forecast the weather, transfer telephone calls over the oceans, assist in the navigation of ships and aircraft, monitor crops and other resources, and support military activities. Artificial satellites also have orbited the moon, the sun, asteroids, and the planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Such satellites mainly gather information about the bodies they orbit.

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1. New Moon

2. Waxing Crescent Moon

3. First Quarter Moon

4. Waxing Gibbous Moon

5. Full Moon

6. Waning Gibbous Moon

7. Last Quarter Moon

8. Waning Crescent Moon

Phases of the Moon:

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New MoonTotally black

“Clean Slate”

New Moon = “No Moon”

New Baby (can’t see moon) = New Moon

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Waxing Crescent Moon • “Wax on (wax off)”

• Wax on with your RIGHT hand.

• Wax a lot of butter on your crescent roll

• Shiny wax/glare on car

• Waxing your car is the RIGHT thing to do!

• “Wax” the newborn baby’s bottom.

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First Quarter Moon  • It is RIGHT to go to the

first quarter of school• In the first quarter the

bright students are always right!

• Before a football game they wax their shoes…then they have the first quarter (before first quarter moon is waxing crescent).

• Clock goes to the right (first quarter).

•A Quarter = 1/4th …. The 4th letter in quarter is “R”

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Waxing Gibbous Moon

• There is a sliver of black on the left side.

• Bright light is on the right – it is right to wax!

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Full Moon

•FULL of light!

•After you wax, you eat and get FULL!

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Waning Gibbous Moon

• Waning sounds like whining and whining is NOT the right thing to do. The bright is on the left.

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Last Quarter

• The last quarter is the only quarter left…the light is on the left side.

• L-A-S-T has 4 letters and L-E-F-T has 4 letters.

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Waning Crescent Moon

• It is NOT RIGHT to whine (waning/whining)

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New Moon

It takes 29.5 days from New Moon to New Moon.

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Blue Moon

• Blue MoonsThere are also months with two full moons. The second full moon in a month is known as a blue Moon. Because this happens fairly infrequently, it has resulted in the expression "once in a blue moon."

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Months with out a full moon

• Months without a full moonThere are months in which no full moons occur. For example, there was a full moon at 18:25 universal time on Feb. 28, 1991. This means there was no February full moon in east Asia and the Pacific, where it was already March. Years in which February lacked a full moon are 1809, 1847, 1866, 1885, 1915, 1934, 1961, 1999, 2018, 2037, 2067, 2094 (Meeus 1995, Odenwald)

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Resources

• http://www.moonphases.info/moon_phases.html

• http://www.calculatorcat.com/moon_phases/moon_phases.phtml

• http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon/

• http://www.briancasey.org/artifacts/astro/moon.cgi

• http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/java/MoonPhase.html

• http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/moon_phases/