LESSON 2

The Sun-Earth-Moon
System
Lunar Phases
Key Concept
• What causes the Moon
to go through phases? What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before
column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
Earth’s shadow causes the changing
appearance of the Moon.
The moon emits its own light.

Study Coach

Make an Outline As you How are we able to see the moon?

read, make an outline to For many days in a month, on a clear night, we can see the
summarize the lesson. Use moon. Yet, unlike stars that make and emit their own light, the
the main headings in the
moon does not make its own light. The moon’s light is actually a
lesson as the main headings

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in the outline. Complete the reflection of the Sun’s light.
outline with the information
Light from the Sun Unlike the Sun, the Moon is a solid
under each heading. Use
the completed outline to object. You see the Moon because it reflects light from the Sun.
review the lesson. The moon’s surface is light in color. It reflects sunlight very well.
The Sun, like any other star in the universe shines all the time.
Scientific Vocabulary
Even though we cannot see the Sun at night, it is shining.
emit
(verb) to send (light, The amount of light that is reflected off the Moon’s surface is
energy, etc.) out from a actually quite low. Only about 12 percent of the light from the
source Sun is reflected off the Moon. That 12 percent still makes the
Moon the brightest object in our night sky.
Scientific Vocabulary
reflection
(noun) what bounces How does the moon move?
back from a surface, such As Earth revolves around the Sun, the Moon revolves around
as light or heat Earth. The pull of Earth’s gravity causes the Moon to move in an
orbit around Earth. Recall from Lesson 1 that if the pull of the
Sun’s gravity ended, Earth would fly in a straight line into space.
The same would be true for the Moon if the pull of Earth’s
gravity ended.

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 One Rotation, One Revolution The moon makes one
revolution around Earth every 27.3 days. Like Earth, the Moon Academic Vocabulary
also rotates as it revolves. One complete rotation of the Moon recall
also takes 27.3 days. This means the Moon makes one rotation (verb) to remember a fact,
in the same amount of time that it makes one revolution around event, or situation
Earth. As a result, the same side of the Moon always faces Earth.
Scientific Vocabulary
The figure below illustrates this event.
rotate
(verb) to move or turn in
Sunlight
a circle

Earth Scientific Vocabulary

revolve
(verb) to turn around a
center point or line
North Pole

The side of the Moon that faces Earth is called the near side.
The side of the Moon that cannot be seen from Earth is called
RE_E190_202A_NGMSS-BANK
the far side of the Moon.

Why does the Moon appear to change

shape?
The Sun is always shining on half the Moon, just as it is
always shining on half of Earth. As the Moon moves around
Earth, usually only one part of the Moon’s near side is lit. The lit
Science Use v. Common Use
part of the Moon or a planet that can be seen from Earth is
phase
called a phase. Science Use how the
Lunar phases The motion of the Moon around Earth causes Moon or a planet is lit as
seen from Earth
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the phase of the Moon to change. The phases follow a regular

pattern that is called the lunar cycle. One lunar cycle takes 29.5 Common Use a part of
days, or slightly more than four weeks, to complete. something or a stage of
development
Waxing Phases The waxing phases occur during the first half
of the lunar cycle. During the waxing phases, more of the
Moon’s near side is lit each night.
Week 1—First Quarter The lunar cycle begins. A sliver of light
appears on the Moon’s western edge. Each night, the lit part
grows larger. By the end of the first week, the Moon reaches
its first quarter phase. The entire western half of the Moon is
now lit.

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 Week 2—Full Moon During the second week in the lunar
cycle, more and more of the near side of the Moon becomes lit.
By the end of the second week, the Moon’s near side is
completely lit. It is at its full moon phase.

Waning Phases After the Moon waxes, it is said to wane.

During the waning phases, less of the Moon’s near side is lit
each night. As seen from Earth, the lit part is now on the
Moon’s eastern side.
Week 3—Third Quarter During the third week in the lunar
cycle, the lit part of the Moon becomes smaller. By the end of
Academic Vocabulary the third week, only the eastern half of the Moon is lit. This is
summarize the third quarter phase.
(verb) to give only the Week 4—New Moon During the fourth week in the lunar cycle,
main information (not less and less of the near side of the Moon is lit. When the Moon’s
details) of a plan, event,
near side is completely dark, it has reached the new moon phase.
experiment, etc.
The entire lunar cycle is summarized in the figure below.

Full moon

Waning gibbous Waxing gibbous

Moon’s
orbit

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You don’t see the
shadowed part.
Third quarter You see the First quarter
sunlit part.

Earth

The new moon phase is

not visible from Earth.

Waning crescent Waxing crescent

Sunlight

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 The Moon’s motion around Earth causes the Moon to rise,
on average, about 50 minutes later each day. The figure below
shows how the Moon looks at midnight during three phases of
the lunar cycle.

First quarter Full moon Third quarter

East West East West East West

At midnight, the first quarter moon The full moon is highest in the sky The third quarter moon rises at about
is setting. It rises during the day at at about midnight. It rises at sunset midnight, about six hours later than
about noon. and sets at sunrise. the full moon rises.

Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in

the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?
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Reading Essentials The Sun-Earth-Moon System  11

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