Why does the Moon have dark spots?

The dark areas are young plains called maria and are composed of basalt. The basalt flowed in and flooded the area created by a huge impact with an asteroid or comet. The light areas are the highlands, which are mountains that were uplifted as a result of impacts.

Why does the crescent moon look upside down?

An upside down moon is a result of the moon’s orbit around the earth, and the earth’s orbit around the sun. And exactly when you see the moon in the shape of a U (lit on the bottom) rather than a backward C depends on what latitude you are at.

What phase of the Moon occurs when the lighted half is facing the sun and the dark side faces Earth?

Third Quarter phase occurs when the eastern half of the Moon is illuminated. On that day it rises at midnight and sets at noon. Waning Crescent phase occurs when the eastern edge of the Moon is lit but most of the visible surface is dark.

What are the dark patches on the Moon called?

The surface of the Moon is covered in huge dark spots, visible from Earth even with the naked eye. These patches are known as maria – a Latin word meaning ‘seas’.

What’s the dark side of the moon look like?

Compared to the near side, the far side’s terrain is rugged, with a multitude of impact craters and relatively few flat and dark lunar maria (“seas”), giving it an appearance closer to other barren places in the solar system such as Mercury and Callisto.

What is the dark shadow on the moon?

Some are total, some are partial, some are a subtle kind of eclipse known as penumbral. During a lunar eclipse, a very small amount of light from the sun filters through Earth’s atmosphere onto Earth’s shadow on the moon. It’s why – at the middle part of a total lunar eclipse – the shadow on the moon looks reddish.

Why does the Moon look like that?

The Moon doesn’t emit (give off) light itself, the ‘moonlight’ we see is actually the Sun’s light reflected off the lunar surface. So, as the Moon orbits the Earth, the Sun lights up different parts of it, making it seem as if the Moon is changing shape. In actual fact, it’s just our view of it that’s altering…

Why is the Moon illuminated?

The moon shines because its surface reflects light from the sun. This is when the moon is between the sun and the Earth, so that the side of the moon reflecting sunlight is facing away from Earth. In the days before and after a new moon, we’ll see a sliver of the moon reflecting sunlight.

What causes the Moon to be illuminated?

The Moon gets its light from the Sun. In the same way that the Sun illuminates Earth, the Moon reflects the Sun’s light, making it appear bright in our sky.

What are the lighter parts of the moon called?

Lunar Highlands
It is divided into light areas called the Lunar Highlands and darker areas called Maria (literally, “seas”; the singular is Mare).

Which side of the Moon is dark during a new moon?

During the new moon, the side facing Earth is dark. The eight Moon phases: 🌑 New: We cannot see the Moon when it is a new moon. 🌒 Waxing Crescent: In the Northern Hemisphere, we see the waxing crescent phase as a thin crescent of light on the right.

Why does the nearside of the moon shine dimly?

Sometimes, when the Moon is in one of its crescent phases, we can still see the darkened area of the Moon’s nearside shining dimly. This effect is caused by the Sun’s light reflecting off Earth’s surface onto the face of the Moon.

Why does the far side of the moon face the Sun?

But following the night of each full moon, as the Moon orbits around Earth, we start to see less of the Moon lit by the Sun. Eventually, the Moon reaches a point in its orbit when we don’t see any of the Moon illuminated. At that point, the far side of the Moon is facing the Sun.

What causes the Moon to appear to be illuminated?

That light always beams onto Earth and Moon from the direction of the Sun, illuminating half of our planet in its orbit and reflecting off the surface of the Moon to create moonlight. This graphic shows the position of the Moon and the Sun during each of the Moon’s phases and the Moon as it appears from Earth during each phase.