Until the end of 2022, the initial Dial-A-Moon image will be the frame from this animation for the current hour. The animation archived on this page shows the geocentric phase, libration, position angle of the axis, and apparent diameter of the Moon throughout the year 2022, at hourly intervals. The data in the table for the entire year can be downloaded as a JSON file or as a text file.
Moon cycle 2021 download#
Hover over the image to reveal the animation frame number, which can be used to locate and download the corresponding frame from any of the animations on this page, including unlabeled high-resolution Moon images. Telescopes and new minds helped scientist understand that the Earth and planets orbited around the Sun and the Moon was a battered and cratered satellite held in our own orbit.Click on the image to download a high-resolution version with feature labels and additional graphics. Copernicus and Galileo upended the long-held Aristotelian view of the heavens as a place where Earth was the center of the Universe and the Moon was a smooth, polished orb. One hundred years later Italian Astronomer Galileo used one of the first telescopes to observe the terminator and deduced from the uneven shadows of the Waning Crescent Phase that the Moon’s surface was pocked with craters and valleys and ridged with mountains. In the early 1500s Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus developed a model of the Solar System where Earth and the other planets orbited around the Sun, and the Moon orbited around Earth. It wasn’t until the 16th century that our understanding of the Solar System evolved. He also believed the Moon was a translucent sphere that traveled in a perfect orbit around Earth. He reasoned, incorrectly however, that the Earth was fixed in space and that the Moon, Sun and Stars revolved around it. By observing the shadow of the Earth across the face of the Moon during a lunar eclipse, Aristotle reckoned that the Earth was also a sphere. Based on how the terminator curved across the surface of the Moon, he correctly surmised the Moon must be a sphere.Ī few centuries later, around 350 BC, Aristotle took Pythagoras observations even further. Around 500 BC Greek philosopher and astronomer Pythagoras carefully observed the narrow boundary line-the terminator-between the dark and light hemispheres of the Moon. The Greeks were among the first to take a scientific look at the Moon and her phases. What did he think it was? It’s not hard to imagine how the Moon became the source of many religions, myths and legends throughout the ages.
Nothing on Earth was quite like this strange brilliant object arcing through the night sky.
Moon cycle 2021 full#
Imagine a Neanderthal peering out of his cave some dark summer night as the Full Moon rises above the horizon. The illustration below shows all eight main and minor Moon phases and where they occur in the lunar cycle. These interim phases are Waxing Crescent Moon, Waxing Gibbous Moon, Waning Gibbous Moon and Waning Crescent Moon. Unlike the main phases, these minor phases don’t happen at a specific time or luminosity, rather they describe the Moon’s phase for the entire time period between each main phase. The remaining four Moon phases occur at halfway points between the main phases. To learn more about the exact time of the Full Moon and the current Full Moon info, check out these Current Full Moon times. In reality, the exact moment of the Full Moon can be timed to the second. When people say “today is a Full Moon” it’s important to remember that doesn’t mean the Moon is full all day long, only that the Full Moon Phase occurs on this day. The First and Last Quarter phases happen when the Moon is exactly half illuminated, with 50-percent luminosity. The New Moon Phase occurs when the Moon is completely dark with zero-percent luminosity, while the Full Moon Phase is completely bright with 100-percent luminosity. These phases occur at very specific times and are measured by both the Moon’s luminosity and how far along the Moon is in its orbit around Earth.
The four main Moon phases in order are the New Moon, First Quarter Moon, Full Moon and Last Quarter Moon. The illustration is set to your computer’s clock and therefore gives you an accurate reading for your own particular time zone. The illustration above shows the range of illumination for today - June 20, 2023. And while the changes may seem slow, on any given day the amount of Moon illuminated by the Sun can vary by as much as 10-percent. It’s the Moon’s journey as it orbits around Earth that creates the predictable dance between light and shadow.
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