Documents & Resources - Search Results
Search results
Lunar Phase Equator
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The phases of the Moon when viewed from the Equator. Here west is up, north is left and east is down. The Moon orbits the Earth every 29.5 days. It is tidally locked to the Earth meaning its rotation period is the same as its orbital period and the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. At any particular time, half of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun and half is in shadow. Over the course of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth every part of the Moon is illuminated for half of the orbit and is in shadow for the other half of the orbit.
When the Moon sits between the Earth and the Sun its illuminated half faces away from the Earth and we only see the half that is in shadow. This phase of the Moon is known as new moon. As the Moon moves in its orbit, a small but growing sliver of the illuminated half of the Moon begins to be seen from the Earth. This illuminated sliver appears on the western side of the Moon’s face when viewed from Earth. This phase is known as waxing crescent moon. By a quarter of the way through the Moon’s orbit around the Earth the Moon appears 90° away from the Sun and half of the Moon’s illuminated half points toward the Earth. This phase is known as first quarter moon. As the orbit continues more than half of the Moon seen from Earth is now illuminated with a dark crescent. This phase is known as waxing gibbous moon. Once we reach the halfway point in the Moon’s orbit round the Earth the Moon is now on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun and we see all of the Moon’s illuminated half. As the whole of the side of the Moon that faces the Earth is now illuminated this is referred to as full moon.
For the remaining half of the Moon’s orbit the half of the moon that faces the Earth begins to move into shadow. Hence the illuminated portion of the Moon that we see from Earth begins to shrink or wane. The western edge of the face of the Moon when viewed from Earth begins to appear dark and this grows through subsequent phases. The phases are repeated in reverse order: waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent and finally back to new moon.
The perspective for this diagram is with west up, north left and east down. When the moon is viewed looking west, for example viewing the waxing crescent just after sunset, the view of the Moon would be rotated by 180°.
Note the surface features of the Moon are illustrative and do not accurately represent the Moon’s true surface.
Credit: Aneta Margraf/IAU OAE
Termes del glossari:
Full Moon , Lunar Phase , New Moon , Quarter Moon , Waning Crescent , Waning Gibbous , Waxing Crescent , Waxing Gibbous , Crescent Moon , Gibbous Moon
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) icons
Arxiu
( image
1.27 MB)
PDF File
(PDF file
451.94 kB)
Also available in black and white
Arxiu
( image
168.11 kB)
PDF File
(
414.51 kB)
Lunar Phase Southern Hemisphere
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The phases of the Moon when viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. Here north is up and west is left The Moon orbits the Earth every 29.5 days. It is tidally locked to the Earth meaning its rotation period is the same as its orbital period and the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. At any particular time, half of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun and half is in shadow. Over the course of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth every part of the Moon is illuminated for half of the orbit and is in shadow for the other half of the orbit.
When the Moon sits between the Earth and the Sun its illuminated half faces away from the Earth and we only see the half that is in shadow. This phase of the Moon is known as new moon. As the Moon moves in its orbit, a small but growing sliver of the illuminated half of the Moon begins to be seen from the Earth. This illuminated sliver appears on the western side of the Moon’s face when viewed from Earth. This phase is known as waxing crescent moon. By a quarter of the way through the Moon’s orbit around the Earth the Moon appears 90° away from the Sun and half of the Moon’s illuminated half points toward the Earth. This phase is known as first quarter moon. As the orbit continues more than half of the Moon seen from Earth is now illuminated with a dark crescent. This phase is known as waxing gibbous moon. Once we reach the halfway point in the Moon’s orbit round the Earth the Moon is now on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun and we see all of the Moon’s illuminated half. As the whole of the side of the Moon that faces the Earth is now illuminated this is referred to as full moon.
For the remaining half of the Moon’s orbit the half of the moon that faces the Earth begins to move into shadow. Hence the illuminated portion of the Moon that we see from Earth begins to shrink or wane. The western edge of the face of the Moon when viewed from Earth begins to appear dark and this grows through subsequent phases. The phases are repeated in reverse order: waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent and finally back to new moon.
Note the surface features of the Moon are illustrative and do not accurately represent the Moon’s true surface.
Credit: Aneta Margraf/IAU OAE
Termes del glossari:
Full Moon , Lunar Phase , New Moon , Quarter Moon , Waning Crescent , Waning Gibbous , Waxing Crescent , Waxing Gibbous , Crescent Moon , Gibbous Moon
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) icons
Arxiu
( image
1.26 MB)
PDF File
(PDF file
452.81 kB)
Also available in black and white
Arxiu
( image
602.73 kB)
PDF File
(
414.32 kB)
Lunar Phase Northern Hemisphere
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: The phases of the Moon when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Here north is up and east is left. The Moon orbits the Earth every 29.5 days. It is tidally locked to the Earth meaning its rotation period is the same as its orbital period and the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth. At any particular time, half of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun and half is in shadow. Over the course of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth every part of the Moon is illuminated for half of the orbit and is in shadow for the other half of the orbit.
When the Moon sits between the Earth and the Sun its illuminated half faces away from the Earth and we only see the half that is in shadow. This phase of the Moon is known as new moon. As the Moon moves in its orbit, a small but growing sliver of the illuminated half of the Moon begins to be seen from the Earth. This illuminated sliver appears on the western side of the Moon’s face when viewed from Earth. This phase is known as waxing crescent moon. By a quarter of the way through the Moon’s orbit around the Earth the Moon appears 90° away from the Sun and half of the Moon’s illuminated half points toward the Earth. This phase is known as first quarter moon. As the orbit continues more than half of the Moon seen from Earth is now illuminated with a dark crescent. This phase is known as waxing gibbous moon. Once we reach the halfway point in the Moon’s orbit round the Earth the Moon is now on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun and we see all of the Moon’s illuminated half. As the whole of the side of the Moon that faces the Earth is now illuminated this is referred to as full moon.
For the remaining half of the Moon’s orbit the half of the moon that faces the Earth begins to move into shadow. Hence the illuminated portion of the Moon that we see from Earth begins to shrink or wane. The western edge of the face of the Moon when viewed from Earth begins to appear dark and this grows through subsequent phases. The phases are repeated in reverse order: waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent and finally back to new moon.
Note the surface features of the Moon are illustrative and do not accurately represent the Moon’s true surface.
Credit: Aneta Margraf/IAU OAE
Termes del glossari:
Full Moon , Lunar Phase , New Moon , Quarter Moon , Waning Crescent , Waning Gibbous , Waxing Crescent , Waxing Gibbous , Crescent Moon , Gibbous Moon
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) icons
Arxiu
( image
1.26 MB)
PDF File
(PDF file
416.48 kB)
Also available in black and white
Arxiu
( image
160.02 kB)
PDF File
(
422.82 kB)
Red Moon, by Daniel Henrion, France
image
Created for the OAE
Caption: Third place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Total lunar eclipse.
Time-lapse images of a total supermoon lunar eclipse that took place on 28 September 2015. The photos show the Moon during the time it moved through the Earth´s umbra: Earth´s umbra touched the Moon´s outer limb at 1.07 a.m. UTC (upper left corner) and left the Moon´s surface at 4.27 a.m. UTC (lower right corner).
Credit: Daniel Henrion/IAU OAE
Termes del glossari:
Eclipse , Moon , Total Lunar Eclipse
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
, Solar System
License: Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) icons
This file on Zenodo ( image 980.51 kB)
Conjunction of Mercury and Venus above the Moon
image
Caption: From the observing deck at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal site in Chile, in March 2008, astronomers captured a conjunction of celestial objects—a moment when two or more astronomical objects appear close together in the sky as seen from Earth. In this scene, the innermost planets Mercury and Venus appear aligned above the Moon, forming a pattern against the sky just before dawn. Although they are at very different distances from Earth, the geometry of their orbits brought them into almost the same line of sight, creating this beautiful cosmic alignment.
In the image, the bright crescent Moon is visible low in the sky near the horizon, forming the most prominent object in the lower part of the scene. Just above the Moon, the brighter planet Venus can be seen, while Mercury, fainter and further from the horizon, appears nearby in the upper part of the image.
Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky
Credit Link
Termes del glossari:
Conjunction
License: Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Reconeixement 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) icons
Arxiu
( image
2.43 MB)
