TRANSPARENT DIAGRAM OF

THE PHASES OF THE MOON.

The various appearances which the Moon periodically presents, in her revolution round the Earth, are termed Phases, and arise from the different positions which its opaque mass occupies in relation to the Sun and the Earth. When the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth (in which case the Sun and the Moon are said to be in Conjunction) she presents her dark side towards the Earth, and is invisible to us: in this state she is called
The Moon always presents the same side to the Earth Traverses her orbit in 29 days, 44 mins, 13 sec.

the New Moon (fig. 1). Four days after the time of New Moon, it has receded 45 from the Sun, and now a portion of its illumined surface is seen in the shape of a sickel (fig. 2). After about eight days, it has departed 90 degrees from the Sun, and shews a bright semi-circular disk (fig. 3) : in this state the Moon is said to be in her First Quarter. Gradually showing more of her illumined surface she becomes gibbous (fig. 4), and about fifteen
Distance of the Moon from the Earth, 210,000 miles Rate of movement of the Moon per hour, 3,500 miles.

7 6 8

5 1

4 2 3

days after the time of New Moon, she stands directly opposite the Sun, presenting a complete circular disk : this is the Full Moon, rising when the Sun sets, and shining through the whole night (fig. 5). Proceeding in her course, she gradually returns, approaching the Sun at the same rate as she before departed, appears a second time gibbous (fig. 6); a Half Moon at her third quarter (fig. 7), assumes the sickle shape (fig. 8) and, completing her orbit, disappears, becoming a New Moon again. The apparent motion of the Moon is that of rising in the East and setting in the West, but this is owing to

the revolution of the Earth upon its axis. The Moons real motion round the Earth is from west by south to east. The Harvest Moon is an epithet applied to those Moons which in the autumnal months rise on successive nights soon after sun set, owing to the oblique ascension of the sign of the Zodiac through which the moon is then passing. Experiments have shown that the light of the full Moon is three hundred thousand times less than that of the Sun, and that it produces an heat, for if her rays, concentrated by a powerful mirror, be thrown on the bulb of a thermometer the effect is perceptible.