(ORDO NEWS) — The moon appears in the sky in different forms depending on its phase: new moon, waxing, full moon, waning. These phases are determined by the relative positions of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. We will tell you when the next full moon is and how the phases of the moon change over time.
The moon revolves around the earth every 27.3 days. In addition, it takes about 27 days for the moon to rotate on its axis. So, the moon always shows us the same face, it does not have a single “dark side”.
As the Moon revolves around the Earth, it is illuminated by the Sun from different angles – what we see when we look at the Moon is reflected sunlight. In other words, the moon itself emits no visible light, so we can only see parts of the moon that are illuminated by other objects.
A small amount of light comes from distant stars and reflections of light from the Earth (known as “Earthglow”). However, the main source of light for the Moon is the Sun. On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later every day, which means that sometimes it rises during the day and sometimes at night.
Four phases of the moon: what do they mean?
The phases of the moon show the passage of time in the night sky. Sometimes at night, when we look at the moon, it is full and bright, and sometimes it is just a ray of silvery light.
These changes in appearance are the phases of the moon. As the Moon revolves around the Earth, it goes through eight different phases. The four major phases of the moon occur about a week apart, with the brightest stage being the full moon.
The first phase is the new moon. At the new moon, the moon is between the earth and the sun, so that the side of the moon facing us receives no direct sunlight and is illuminated only by dim sunlight reflected from the earth.
The second phase is the first quarter. A few days later, as the Moon moves around the Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight.This thin strip is called the wax crescent.
A week after the new moon, the moon is in the sky at a distance of 90 degrees from the sun and, from our point of view, half-illuminated – what we call the first quarter, because it is about a quarter of the way around the Earth. After a few days, the area of illumination continues to increase.
The third phase is the full moon. When the Moon has moved 180 degrees from its new moon, the sun, Earth, and Moon form a line. The disk of the moon at this time is very close to being completely illuminated by the sun.
The fourth phase is the last quarter. Then the moon moves until it appears that more than half of its surface receives sunlight, but its amount begins to gradually decrease.
A few days later, the Moon is still a quarter of the way around the Earth. Sunlight now illuminates the other half of the satellite’s visible face. The Moon then enters a waning crescent phase as less than half of its surface appears to receive sunlight, and the amount of sunlight is decreasing.
Finally, the moon returns to its original new moon position. Since the Moon’s orbit does not exactly match the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, they are rarely perfectly aligned. Usually the Moon passes above or below the Sun from our vantage point, but sometimes it passes directly in front of the Sun and a solar eclipse occurs.
Each full moon is calculated to occur at a precise moment, which may or may not be close to the time of moonrise where you are.
So when a full moon rises, it’s usually a few hours before or after the actual time it’s technically full, but the casual skywatcher won’t notice the difference. In fact, the Moon will often look about the same for two nights after a full moon.
When is the full moon in 2022?
The full moon shows its face to the Earth about once a month. Most of the time, a full moon is not quite full. We always see the same side of the moon, but part of it is in shadow due to the moon’s rotation.
Only when the Moon, Earth and sun are perfectly aligned is the moon 100% full and this alignment results in a lunar eclipse. And sometimes – once a blue moon – the moon is full twice a month or four times a season, depending on which definition you prefer.
It turns out that a full moon occurs approximately every 29.5 days. This is the time it takes for the moon to go through one complete cycle of the lunar phase.
Full moon calendar 2022 with dates:
– January 18 at 02:51, the constellation is Leo.
– February 16 at 20:00, the constellation is Leo.
– March 18 at 10:21, the constellation is Virgo.
– April 16 at 21:58, the constellation is Libra.
– May 16 at 07:16, the constellation is Scorpio.
– June 14 at 14:53, the constellation is Sagittarius.
– July 13 at 21:38, the constellation is Capricorn.
– August 12 at 04:36, the constellation is Aquarius.
– September 10 at 12:59, the constellation is Pisces.
– October 9 at 23:55, the constellation is Aries.
– November 8 at 14:03, the constellation is Taurus.
– December 8 at 07:10, the constellation is Gemini.
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