1. The Moon’s Motions After completing this section, students will describe the types of eclipses (Standard PI – 070)

2. The moon travels in a regular and predictable motion. This explains why we see different amounts of the moon’s surface By keeping track of the moon’s motion, we can predict where the moon is in it’s orbit

3. The Moon’s Orbit

4. The moon rises in the east and sinks in the west. This motion is apparent. This rising motion is caused by the Earth turning on its axis.

5. The moon is in orbit around the Earth. It takes about 27 and a third days to rotate

6. The Moon’s orbit is elliptical, with an average distance of 384,000 kilometers Apogee – when the Earth and the Moon are farthest away from each other Perigee – when the Earth and the Moon are closest to each other

7. Phases of the Moon

8. The phases of the moon are the daily changes in the moon’s appearance as viewed from the Earth. Moon phases occur because: We see the moon because it reflects sunlight The Moon orbits around the Earth

9. The sun lights the half of the moon that is facing us. From the Earth, the face of the moon changes from all dark (new moon) to all light (full moon) This is called waxing.

10. When the moon goes from all light to all dark, it is called waning

11. Lunar Eclipses

12. The shadow cast by any opaque object has two parts. The umbra is the area of total shadow. The penumbra is the area of partial shadow

13. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth’s shadow prevents the sunlight from reaching the Moon It only occurs at full moon phase.

14. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is fully within the Earth’s umbra A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the Moon is in the umbra

15. Solar Eclipse Solar eclipses occur when the moon comes between the Earth and the Sun

16. A solar eclipse occurs only at new moon phase

17. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth Areas in the Moon’s umbra experience a total eclipse

18. Partial eclipse occurs when the Moon is at perigee.

19. Annular eclipses occur when the moon is at apogee. The umbra doesn’t reach the Earth