The Moon has “phases.” That means it looks a little different to us each night during its one-month orbit of our planet. We describe how the Moon looks with terms such as “Full Moon,” “First Quarter,” and “New Moon” (which we can’t really see, because the side that is lit faces away from us).
The Moon has no light of its own. Moonlight is sunlight bouncing off the Moon’s surface. As the Moon orbits Earth, the Sun lights up whatever side of the Moon is facing it. To the Sun, it’s always a full Moon! If you were looking down upon Earth and its Moon from way out in space over the North Pole, you would see a Moon that looked like one of these:
But we see the Moon from the center of its orbit. So we see different portions of the lit side of the Moon.
This information was taken from http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/oreo-moon/.
Here are some fun Solar System websites and games to play as well!
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/solar-system/
http://www.planetsforkids.org/
Also, for those of you with iPad/iPhones, there is a very cool app called Star Walk! It allows you to explore space from the comfort of your own home! 🙂 It’s $2.99 on iTunes, but well worth the price.
“Star Walk is the most beautiful stargazing app you’ve ever seen on a mobile device. It will become your go-to interactive astro guide to the night sky, following your every movement in real-time and allowing you to explore over 200, 000 celestial bodies with extensive information about stars and constellations that you find.”
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/star-walk-5-stars-astronomy/id295430577?mt=8
