How do moon phases work?

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I understand that it is the Earth’s shadow that causes moon phases. This works except for one problem, this morning the sun and the moon were out at the same time, which isn’t unusual except this time it dawned on me that if the whole Sun is out above the earth and the whole Moon is up above the Earth how is there still a shadow over the moon? Wouldn’t it have to be a full moon because the full sun is shining on it now? Or why wouldn’t the moon phases be horizontal instead of vertical?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

There’s only 2 options here: either there’s a solar eclipse, or the Sun isn’t *directly* behind. If the latter, it will cause a shadow, purely because of our line of sight.

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