Orbital Motion of Our Moon | Phases of the Moon | Surface of the Moon |         Shadows on the Moon
						4. Shadows on the Moon 100 points
						You will need at least two observations of the Moon at different phases. The more observations you have the better the conclusions you will be able to draw about the Moon's surface features. A separation of a week's time between observations should be enough. One day on the Moon lasts about 29.5 Earth days. Any one place on the Moon sees the Sun rise, move across the sky, and set in half that time. You can observe this from Earth. In the lunar morning, just like here on Earth, the shadows are long and much of the surface is still dark because it is hidden from the Sun. At lunar noon (full Moon for the point on the Moon closest to Earth) the entire surface is lit from above (but, like on Earth, the Sun is highest at the lunar equator and still quite low when viewed from the lunar poles) and shadows are shortest. Then, in the lunar evening, the shadows are long yet again but now they stretch the opposite direction as they did in the morning. Your detailed sketches of the Moon's surface as seen through a telescope will include these shadows. These shadows can reveal the relative heights of lunar surface features. Guiding Questions: Compare your sketches. Have the shadows grown longer or shorter from one sketch to the next? Is this what you expect knowing the time of lunar day? What new lunar features has studying the shadows revealed to you?