Why does the moon look different throughout the month?

Answer 1

As the moon orbits around the Earth there are different phases. When we see the moon it is because the light from the sun is being reflected off it.

Phases:

The new moon is when it's not visible because it is between the Earth and the sun.

The first quarter moon is when the right side is visible because it faces both us and the sun.

The full moon is when the moon is a complete circle in the sky because it fully faces both us and the sun.

The third Quarter moon is when the left side is visible because it faces us and the sun.
The Moon is always the same shape; it's a ball of rock.

It LOOKS different from night to night, because it goes around the Earth, once in about 28 days. It rotates once in exactly the same time. So we always see the same part of the Moon.

Remember that just like the Earth, the Sun always shines on half of the Moon, and the other half of the Moon is "night".

As the Moon orbits the Earth, different places on the Moon are in sunlight.

When the Moon is "new", it's the "daytime" half of the Moon that is facing away from us, and we're seeing the night half.

A couple of days later, the Moon has gone 1/14th of the way around its orbit, and we can see just a bit of the daytime side of the Moon.

After a few more days, we can see half of the Moon lit up - but if you look very closely, you can see the "dark" half of the Moon as well, being faintly illuminated by reflected Earthlight!

A week later, and the Moon is "full Moon" - because we're seeing the entire "daytime" half of the Moon.

Answer 2

The moon's appearance changes throughout the month due to its position relative to the Earth and the Sun. This change in appearance, known as lunar phases, is caused by the varying amount of sunlight that reflects off the moon's surface as it orbits the Earth.

Answer 3

Because the earth is orbiting around the sun. Observing from the distant north, you can see that as the year progresses, people looking at the sky at midnight are watching the stars move (apparent motion- they are not really moving around the earth) around a full 360 degree sweep.

To be more explained, we move, and stars don't move along with us. So we see different stars as we orbit, tilt, and whatnot. :-)

Answer 4

the moon changes during the courses of the month because every day is a new day and plus time changes every day and night is also because when we have daylight savings time changes either by an hour ahead or by an hour behind.

Answer 5

There are a few reasons for this. The most important thing for you to know is that the moon does NOT produce it's own light - it reflects light from the sun and the side of the moon which is lit up by the sun is what we see from Earth. The moon orbits the earth approximately every four weeks so the "shape" of the moon we see constantly changes. The different shapes we see are the lunar phases and these are caused by the angle between the Earth, the Moon and the Sun.

Answer 6

It doesn't exactly change it's shape... that's impossible. It more like, spins around the Earth which spins around the sun and as it does that you get different perspectives of the moon. For example, say it's midnight in September and you see a full moon, that's because the sun is directly behind the moon so the round piece of light you see is the moon. Now it's two months later and this time the moon is only a quarter of it's size, that's because the sun is to the right (or left) of the moon. get it?

Answer 7

why does the moon lok different throuthout each month

Answer 8

the seasons and the weather so that is what changes the moon

Answer 9

Because the change of temperature.