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The Moon then wanes as it passes through the gibbous moon, third-quarter moon, and crescent moon phases, before returning back to new moon. The terms old moon and new moon are not interchangeable. The "old moon" is a waning sliver (which eventually becomes undetectable to the naked eye) until the moment it aligns with the Sun and begins to wax ...
A full moon sinking behind San Gorgonio Mountain, California, on a midsummer morning. Moonrise and moonset are times when the upper limb of the Moon appears above the horizon and disappears below it, respectively. The exact times depend on the lunar phase and declination, as well as the observer's location.
These maria were formed when molten lava flowed into ancient impact basins. The Moon is, except when passing through Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse, always illuminated by the Sun, but from Earth the visible illumination shifts during its orbit, producing the lunar phases. [18] The Moon is the brightest celestial object in Earth's night sky.
For example, the crescent moon is 'banana' shaped, and the half-moon is D-shaped. When the moon is nearly full, it is called a gibbous moon. The crescent and gibbous moons each last approximately a week. [5] Each phase is also described in accordance to its position on the full 29.5-day cycle. The eight phases of the moon in order: [5] new moon
The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Animation of the Moon as it cycles through its phases, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The apparent wobbling of the Moon is known as libration.
The traditional lunar year of 12 synodic months is about 354 days, approximately eleven days short of the solar year. Thus, every 2 to 3 years there is a discrepancy of 22 to 33 days, or a full synodic month. For example, if the winter solstice and the new moon coincide, it takes 19 tropical years for the coincidence to recur.
The lunar phases and librations in 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere at hourly intervals, with music, titles, and supplemental graphics Simulated views of the Moon over one month, demonstrating librations in latitude and longitude. Also visible are the different phases, and the variation in visual size caused by the variable distance from the Earth.
A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, that is approximately as long as a natural phase cycle of the Moon; the words month and Moon are cognates.The traditional concept of months arose with the cycle of Moon phases; such lunar months ("lunations") are synodic months and last approximately 29.53 days, making for roughly 12.37 such months in one Earth year.