SC.4.E.5.2 The Change of the Moon’s Shape

SC.4.E.5.2 Describe the changes in the observable shape of the moon over the course of about a month.

What Are the Changes in the Shape of the Moon?

The full moon rising just after sunset. We can tell that it is sunset, because the sky is not yet black as it would be at night. This tells us that the full moon rises as the Sun sets. The shape of the moon will change over the course of about a month.

In this series of photographs, we see the moon on nine different nights. You might be confused by the space in the middle: this is the “new moon,” the opposite of a “full moon.” During the new moon, we can only see the side of the moon that is in shadow: we see the dark side of the moon. This means... we can’t see the moon, even though it is there in the sky.

From the first photograph in the series, a full moon, to the last photograph, another full moon, is about 28 days. If the moon is full on January 1, it will be full again around January 28. If the new moon falls on January 14, the next full moon will fall about one month later.