Phases of the Moon and Planets

Aubrey Hormel

Phases of the Moon and Planets

       In this lab, students worked independently or with partners to recreate the phases of the Moon and planets using a lamp, a foam ball, and diagrams provided with the lab. Students use this information to visualize and better understand the relationships between the locations of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and other planets. 

Part I: Phases of the Moon

    Part I of this lab deals specifically with the phases of the Moon as caused by the Moon's location with respect to the Sun and the Earth. By using a lamp to represent the Sun, a camera phone to represent the Earth, and a foam ball to represent the Moon, we are able to see from different angles the "light" and "dark" sides of the Moon. The combinations of "light" and "dark" as the Moon moves in its orbit around the Earth constitute the lunar phases. Below are pictures representing the Moon in its different phases,

1. New

2. Waxing Crescent

3. First Quarter

4. Waxing Gibbous

5. Full

6. Waning Gibbous

7. Third Quarter

8. Waning Crescent

    1. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's phase is new. During this phase, the Moon casts a                   shadow over part of the Earth.

    2. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon is full. During this, the Earth casts a shadow over the               Moon.

Part II: Where is the Moon in the Sky?

      Part II of the lab allows the students to understand the relationship between the time at which the Moon rises, passes through the meridian, and sets when given the current phase of the Moon. Students do this using Figure 1 provided with the lab and a circular piece of paper marked with East, West, and the meridian.

  3. The Moon will rise at noon if its phase is the first quarter.
  4. The Moon will rise at sunset if the phase is full.
  5. The Moon will be on the meridian at sunrise if the phase is 3rd quarter.
  6. The Moon will set at midnight if the phase is 1st quarter.
  7. The Moon will be on the meridian at noon if the phase is new.
  8. If the full Moon is just setting in the west, it is currently sunrise.

Part III: The Moon's Rotation

       In Part III, students compare the "dark" and "hidden" sides of the Moon by observing the foam ball move through the positions denoted in Figure 1. By keeping a mark on the ball facing Earth, students are able to observe the changing orientation of the mark through the simulated phases of the Moon. This represents the side of the Moon that we see. By then moving the ball through Figure 1 with the mark facing the Sun, we observe that the "dark" side is always away from the Sun, while the "hidden" side is always away from the Earth.

    9.  In the first procedure, the Moon rotates with respect to the Sun.

   10. The second procedure describes the Moon's actual rotation around the Earth.

   11. The hidden and dark sides of the Moon are not always the same because we always see the same side of the Moon, but different amounts of the dark side are visible depending on the current lunar phase,

Part IV: Phases of the Planets

  Part IV of the lab is similar to Part I, where we use a lamp to represent the sun, a foam ball to represent either an inferior or superior planet, and a camera phone to represent the Earth. Using Figure 2 provided with the lab and moving through the indicated positions, students simulate the phases of both inferior and superior planets. Below are pictures of these simulations.

   Inferior Planetary Phases:

1. New

2. Crescent

3, Quarter

4. Gibbous

 

5. Full

6. Gibbous

7. Quarter

8. Crescent

Superior Planetary Phases:

1. Full

2. Gibbous

3. Gibbous

4. Gibbous

5. Full

6. Gibbous

7. Gibbous

8. Gibbous

12. Inferior and superior planets do not have the same phases. Inferior planets go through new, crescent, gibbous, quarter, and full phases, while superior planets only exhibit the new and gibbous phases. The only phases that are the same are 4, 5, and 6.

13. A superior planet would be brightest at the first position because it would be visible from Earth at night and closest to the Sun and Earth.

Part V: End of Lab Questions

14. Lunar and Solar eclipses do not occur every time the moon completes an orbit because the plane on which the Moon orbits the Earth is at a slight angle to the plane on which the Earth orbits the sun. Therefore, the shadow of the Moon may be cast above, below or on the Earth, and the same goes for the location of Earth's shadow with respect to the Moon.

15. The sidereal month of 27.3 days and the lunar month of 29 are not equal due to Earth's orbit around the Sun. As Earth moves around the Sun, the Moon moves with the Earth and must move slightly more than the typical 360 degrees each time to "catch up" to the Earth and complete a lunar cycle.

16. If you were on a spaceship following the Earth, you would not always see the same side of the Moon. Instead, you would see the entirety as it completed its orbit and rotation around the Earth. Since a given part of Earth only ever sees one side of the Moon, if one were at a vantage point to see the Earth, they would be able to observe all of the Moon.

17. If Venus were nearly always between the Earth and the Sun, as in the Earth-centered model of our solar system, then the full phase would never occur.

18. Superior planets can be seen at midnight if the Earth is directly between the planet and the Sun.

19.  The inferior planets are Mercury and Venus.

20 The superior planets are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

21. In this lab, I learned that planets go through phases similar to the Moon's, that the phases of superior planets consist of full and gibbous, and that you can determine when the Moon will rise or set in a particular lunar phase.

22. The point of this lab is to help student visualize and deepen their understanding of the relationship between the Earth and our views of the Moon and planets, as well as the relationship between this concept and the positions of these bodies in our solar system.