Hi everybody and welcome to Blogs with Science Cat! Today I have a assistant here with me today and her name is Science Fairy. Science Fairy: Hello I can't wait to talk about the phases of the moon. OK then lets get started.

Phases of the Moon

    So Science Fairy you know why some people believe all these myths about the moon. Like turning into werewolves and stuff, is that really true? Science Fairy: You've heard same thing over and over again. There's a man in the moon. It's made of cheese and it inspires love. People will turn into werewolves and stuff.

 

    Since the beginning of human history, civilizations around the world have been bewitched by Earth's nearest neighbor, making up myths linking the moon to everything from the human life to the rhythms of nature. Aaaahhh I see now.

  

Even now that science has shown us that it's no more mysterious than anything else we can reach out and touch, surveys indicate that people can't shake superstition. Nurses blame a full moon for more chaos and incoming patients. Police have linked full moons to aggressive behavior.  I don't know why people act so weird during a full moon. I mean is doesn't man anything its just a full moon.

 Well the moon doesn't just stay a full moon all the time. It goes through a series of phases.

There are waxing phases and waning phases. Waxing means the moon is growing. Waning means it is getting smaller. Here are the phases of the moon. A new moon is when the moon is between the earth and the sun and we can't see it because the lit half is facing the sun. A Waxing crescent is when you can see a thin slice of the moon. The first quarter phase is when you can see half of the moon. A full moon is when you can see the whole entire moon. Thise were the waxing phases now here aer the waning phases. The waning gibbous is when you can you half the moon this is the third quarter phase. Then comes the waning crescent this when you can only a slice of the moon just before the new moon comes and the cycle starts all over again. Science Fairy: Yep those are all phases of the moon.

Well Science Fairy can you tell why we don't get eclipses every month? Science Fairy: A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon enters the Earth's shadow. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's shadow falls on the Earth. They do not happen every month because the Earth's orbit around the sun is not in the same plane as the Moon's orbit around the Earth.

 One half of the moon is always lit by the sun even when the moon is going through phases the side that faces the sun is always lit. As the moon goes through phases we see more of the moon the we see less of moon as it goes through it's phases.

 To help you understand the phases better here are some pictures.

New moon

                                                                         Waxing Crescent

                                             

                                                                   Half Moon
                                          

                                                                 Gibbous Moon

 Full moon

                                           

 Well guys it looks like its the end of my blog. See you next time on Blogs with Science Cat!

Link1

Link2

Link3 

 

 

 





    Hi everyone! And once again welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoyed my last my blog on Neptune. On this blog we are going to learn about the mysterious Moon.

     You know how the Moon looks so bright at night sometimes? Well that is because the Moon reflects light coming from the sun. So it makes the Moon look like it's glowing.

   The Moon doesn't always appear in full circle because of the way it orbits and spins on it's axis around Earth. You see, the Moon rotates on it's axis about the same time as Earth does. So we always see the same the side of the Moon. So when it goes through phases like cresent moon and other phases its not in a full circle.

  It takes about 27.3 days for the Moon to orbit earth and once every month there is Full moon. This month is called a lunar month.

     Since the Moon doesn’t have a significant atmosphere, nothing can stop even the smallest meteoroids from striking its surface. As a result, the lunar surface is heavily cratered. As a matter of fact, tiny craters are quite common even on lunar rocks. This was observed on the Moon rocks brought home by the Apollo mission. The surface of the moon is very dry and dusty since there is no water on moon.

 

   Today, there are several main theories on the origin of the Moon. The most widely accepted of these theories states that the Moon formed after a Mars-sized protoplanet (a young planet not yet fully formed), collided with the early Earth over 4 billion years ago. This massive collision produced debris that eventually coalesced due to gravitational forces to form the Moon. Some other possibilities: Some scientists believe that the moon formed when a rogue planet struck the Earth in such a great impact that it vaporized into small bodies. These vapors rose about the Earth's atmosphere where it orbited the Earth until it formed into what we call the moon, or the moon just got caught in Earth's grvatiational pull.

Guess what time it is! It fun fact time! Here are some facts about the moon.

1) No is sure how the moon formed.

2) The moon doesn't have an atmosphere.

3) Neil Armstrong was the first man to go to the moon.

 

Thanks for reading my blog!!  See you next time. This is Science Cat saying keep learning about the moon.

 

Link1

 Link2

Link3