The Book of Stars: Being a Simple Explanation of the Stars and Their Uses to Boy LifeCollins, A. Frederick (Archie Frederick)
Science
The Book of Stars: Being a Simple Explanation of the Stars and Their Uses to Boy Life
Collins, A. Frederick (Archie Frederick)
Astronomy -- Juvenile literature; Stars -- Juvenile literature
The diagrams, Figs. 109 and 110, show the Earth in the center of the
Moon’s orbit and the Moon is pictured in eight positions, as it moves
round the Earth, one for each phase, while the sunlight falling upon
the Earth and the Moon is shown by streamers of light from the Sun
above.
The diagram, Fig. 110, shows how the sunlight falls on the Moon, but
you must always keep in mind that only that part of the Moon which is
in the sunlight and which is also inside of the line of its orbit can
be seen from the Earth.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.—DIAGRAM OF THE MOON’S PHASES AS WE SEE THEM.]
Starting now with the new Moon, Fig. 109, it will be seen that the
Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun and hence that part of
the Moon toward the Earth is in the shadow. Now, since the eye can see
nothing in the sky which is not shining, and since the Moon rises and
sets at the same time as the Sun, we cannot see it. As the Moon moves
on round the Earth in the direction of the arrow and while half of it
is in the light and half of it is in the shadow as before, from our
position we are now able to see a narrow strip of its bright surface
which in Fig. 109 is shown as a wedge, but since we are looking at it
from an angle we see it as a crescent, as shown in Fig. 110.
The Moon having reached its first quarter sets at midnight and from the
Earth half of its bright surface can be seen, which of course is only
one quarter of the Moon’s whole surface. The next phase of the Moon is
when nearly all of its bright side can be seen. This is the gibbous
phase and the Moon then seems to be about the shape of a football.
After the gibbous phase the full moon appears and this takes place in
that part of the sky opposite the setting Sun. When the Moon is full it
shines all night and does not set until sunrise.
From this time on the bright part of the Moon which we can see grows
less and the gibbous phase again takes place. Soon the Moon reaches its
last quarter and gradually the straight rough edge is hollowed out and
another crescent is formed. The Moon is now in the east and the horns
of the crescent point to the west, just opposite to the direction the
horns of the new Moon pointed. The horns of the new and old crescents
always point away from the Sun and this also is a good thing to
remember.
To show how the Moon changes its phases perform the following simple
experiment: Peel half an orange and push a knitting needle through its
center and let this be the Moon. Your eyes will serve for the Earth and
a lighted lamp will make a very good Sun, all of which is shown in Fig.
111.
Hold the orange by the knitting needle well out from your body with the
peeled side toward you, and in such a position that the orange will be
between your eyes and the lamp. The side of the orange toward you will
be in the shadow and this represents the new Moon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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