Have you ever looked up at the moon before going to bed and noticed that it seems to change shape over time? Sometimes it’s just a tiny sliver, and other times it’s a big, bright circle. But guess what? The moon doesn’t actually change shape! It’s our view of it that changes.
Just like Earth, the moon has a day side and a night side. The day side is the part facing the sun, and the night side is the part that’s not. When we see a small sliver of the moon, we’re seeing just a bit of the day side, while the rest is in darkness.
The moon orbits, or moves around, Earth. It takes about one month for the moon to complete one full orbit. As it moves, the part of the moon that’s lit by the sun changes direction, giving us a different view each night. This is why the moon seems to grow and shrink from right to left during the month.
The different shapes we see are called the phases of the moon, and there are eight of them:
It takes about a month for the moon to go through all its phases. In fact, the word “month” comes from “moon” because of this cycle. Next time you look at the moon, see if you can tell which phase it’s in. Is the bright part on the right or the left? You can even draw pictures to track how it changes each day.
Now you know that the moon itself doesn’t change shape. We just see different parts of its sunny side as it travels around Earth. Thanks for learning with us today!
