• Question: why does the moon change shape

    Asked by 454bera32 to Shikha, Colin on 18 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by bruno.
    • Photo: Shikha Sharma

      Shikha Sharma answered on 18 Nov 2014:


      Hi 455bera32 and bruno,
      The Moon does not change shape. It is always a sphere which travels once around the Earth every 29.5 days.. The alignment of the Moon and the Sun determines the phase of the Moon or what people say changing shape of moon. Phases of the moon are caused as the moon is illuminated from varying angles by the Sun. As you know the moon doesn’t make any light of its own, it is just a big ball of rock. Depending on the positions of sun, moon, and the earth, different proportions of the moon are illuminated, causing the shape of the moon visible from the earth to change. We simply see a different angle of the reflected side each minute, hour, day, week and month. This gives the appearance of different phases like “new” moon or a “full” moon, when in fact the moon’s shape is just the same as it was before.

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