Question about the Moon

I know this is probably a stupid question, but can somebody explain to me how the moon still has a shadow cast on it when from the vantage point the light should be directly hitting the moon. Im having a hard time grasping this concept and would appreciate an explanation.

You're not on the North Pole. The Earth is casting the shadow.

Aliens.

reply to post by Holodomor


We were ripping on him in my world civ II course the other day.

Originally posted by DaTroof
You're not on the North Pole. The Earth is casting the shadow.

Why isn't the shadow a "crescent" then? Shouldn't the shadow make the moon more crescent than "almond" shaped?

With a related external image :

reply to post by Holodomor


No photo shop moon handling

reply to post by Sly1one


en.wikipedia.org...

Moon phases change gradually. The shadow on the Moon that day would be the same at sunset, noon, sunrise, midnight...

reply to post by Brandon88



The earth is still casting the shadow, although the shadow as seen by the low resolution camera is not clear.

You need to factor in the size and distance of the sun. If you were looking at the earth and the moon from the sun they would appear to sit next to one another in this position. The light is being cast from such a huge distance your perspective of the event is warped.

Look at it this way. The sun is not between earth and moon. So the shadows cast by the sun will appear the same on both unless one is behind the other.

reply to post by Yeats

This is a reply to DaTroof as well.

Wow, no, just no. The earth only casts a shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse. And its a circle, because earth is round. I can't believe stars were awarded for this nonsense.

Here is a way to prove what I'm saying. Grab two balls marbles, baseballs, basketballs, whatever. Now put them beside one another on a table. Now grab a flashlight or a portable light of some kind. Stand next to the table and shine the light toward the two balls and walk around the table all the while aiming your light at the two balls. You'll notice that only when one ball is behind the other from the perspective of the light is a shadow cast by one onto the other. You'll also notice the shadow on either ball is on the same side at the same angle unless the light is completely blocked by one of the balls. Simple as that.

reply to post by Brandon88


You will only see a full Moon when the Moon is behind the Earth, (relative to the Sun). When both the Sun and the Moon are visible in the sky at the same time, that means the Moon is somewhere beside the Earth. So you'll only see it partly illuminated.

To illustrate this on a smaller scale. Imagine you and a buddy are standing beside one another, both facing a lamp. If you turn to look at him, you'll see the front of his body illuminated and the backside in shadow. You will only see your buddy fully illuminated when he's standing more or less behind you.

Check out this free program called Celestia which is a 3d solar system simulator. It might help to make it a bit easier to understand.

The Moon is making the shadow, in the same way you make a shadow when you are facing a light source.

Imagine that you and another person are on a dark room watching TV. If you look at the other person you will see that his/her face is in the light coming from the TV while the back of his/her head is in the shadow. If you move closer to the TV and look at the other person you will see more of the face (getting light from the TV) and less from the back of his/her head (in the shadow). If you move away from the TV the opposite happens, you will see less of the illuminated face of the person and more of the back of the head in the shadow.

reply to post by DarkSarcasm


reply to post by jra


reply to post by ArMaP


Thank you all these explanations cleared it up for me, Im pretty sure I understand it now.