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The phases of the Moon as viewed looking southward from the Northern Hemisphere. Each phase would be rotated 180° if seen looking northward from the Southern Hemisphere. The upper part of the diagram is not to scale, as the Moon, the Earth, and the Moon's orbit are all much smaller relative to the Earth's orbit than shown here.
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.
Animation of the Moon as it cycles through its phases. The apparent wobbling of the Moon is known as libration. The Moon is in synchronous rotation, meaning that it keeps the same face toward Earth at all times. This synchronous rotation is only true on average because the Moon's orbit has a definite eccentricity.
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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.
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Due to tidal locking, the same hemisphere of the Moon always faces the Earth and thus the length of a lunar day (sunrise to sunrise on the Moon) equals the time that the Moon takes to complete one orbit around Earth, returning to the same lunar phase. While the Moon is orbiting Earth, Earth is progressing in its orbit around the Sun.
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