I know I sound very dumb asking this but I am still confused at how the moon moves across the sky at night. I just don’t understand how it works, is it perception? The way the sun reflects light off the moon? I know the moon orbits around the earth every 28 days but it makes no sense to me. Many thanks.
In: Physics
Day and night are simply the earth spinning in approximately 24 hours.
The fact that the moon rises and sets at different times is because the moon is going in a circle around the earth. Sometimes it’s between the earth and sun (new moon). Sometimes it’s directly behind the earth from the sun (full moon) each day in its 28-day orbit it moves a little bit. When it’s beside the earth relative to the sun and earth, you get a quarter moon.
So the rising and setting at night is the earth spinning. The moon‘s changing appearance and how early/late it rises/sets is the moon moving around the earth
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