10/12/2018 – Ephemeris – The Moon’s phases

Ephemeris for Friday, October 12th. The Sun will rise at 7:54. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 8 minutes, setting at 7:03. The Moon, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 9:31 this evening.

The Moon’s changing appearance over the month may seem to be mysterious at first glance. Maybe because one may think that the objects in the sky are somehow different from the familiar objects we see around us on the Earth. In ancient times, especially the Greeks thought that everything in the heavens halfway perfect and spotless. They explained the definite markings we see as the man-in-the-moon as a reflection of the Earth by a spotless Moon. The Moon’s phases are simply light and shadow on a ball in the sunlight. Sometimes, when the Moon appears in the daytime, take a small ball, like a golf ball and hold it up to the Moon, while the ball is also in sunlight, and the small ball will exhibit the same phase as the Moon.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

One of the best explanation diagrams of the Moon’s phases as it relates to the Earth and Sun. Click on the image to enlarge. Credit Wikimedia user Orion 8.

Demonstration of the Moon’s crescent phase with the Styrofoam moon ball we use for Project Astro held up to a light off of the frame to the right. The night side of the ball is illuminated a bit by the translucency of the ball, and the reflection off of my hand. Note the roughness of the ball is visible only at the terminator.

Demonstration of the Moon’s gibbous phase with the Styrofoam moon ball we use for Project Astro held up to a light off of the frame to the right. The night side of the ball is illuminated a bit by the translucency of the ball, and the reflection off of my hand. Note the roughness of the ball is visible only at the terminator.