The Regular cycle of the Earth- Moon system. The Lunar Cycle The Regular cycle of the Earth- Moon system. It takes 29.5 days for the moon to move through the phases.

New Moon Cycle begins at the new moon The moon is not visible from the earth

Waxing Crescent You begin to see more of the moon as it appears to grow or “WAX”.

1st Quarter Moon You see half of the lighted side of the moon

The moon continues to wax. Waxing Gibbous The moon continues to wax.

Full Moon You see the whole lighted side of the moon

Waning Gibbous The moon appears to get smaller or, WANE

3rd Quarter Moon You see half of the lighted side of the moon

Waning Crescent You see a crescent again.

New Moon The Cycle begins again, 29.5 days later

a counterclockwise direction. The moon is always increasing The moon must travel in a counterclockwise direction. The moon is always increasing as it moves away from the sun.

From the new moon to the full moon the moon gets brighter each day

Waxing " Wax " on The waxing moon is getting brighter and brighter every day

The moon is always decreasing as it moves toward the sun.

From the full moon to the new moon the moon gets dimmer each day

" Wane " off Waning A waning moon is getting dimmer and dimmer every day. " Wane " off Waning

To remember that the Gibbous moon is more Than 1/2 Waxing Gibbous Waning Gibbous THINK: “Gibb ous MORE” !!

To determine if the moon is waxing or waning, draw a stick beginning at the bottom of the phase you see in the sky upward. The letter will be made with the lit side of the Moon.

N S When the moon makes a “smile”, and you can’t tell where to draw the stick to make a “b” or “d”, find North or South. Start you stick in the South and extend it into infinity and see which letter you made. N S

In this case, the lines make a letter “d” showing that the moon is on the Decrease or waning. N S "d" = decrease !

Near = New Far = Full

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30   Lunar cycle is 29.5 days

Each moon phase last about 3.5 days 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30   Each moon phase last about 3.5 days

Seasons

Seasons

Lunar Eclipse

Solar Eclipse

Bibliography Cars From East. Kent Eckholm. 21 September 2006 http://www.abc.se/~m9805/eastcars/showcar.php?car=1142&lang=en Galactic Images. John Chumack. 21 September 2006 http://www.galacticimages.com Moon Phases. Keith Cooley. 21 September 2006 http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonphase/