The moon reflects sunlight or not. Why the moon shines - an explanation for children. Causes of the moon glow

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Why does the moon glow- description for children with photo: features of the rocky satellite of the Earth, the level of surface reflection is 12%, the brightest period of the supermoon.

Let's talk about why the moon shines in a language accessible to children. This information useful for children and their parents.

Maybe, for the smallest children it will be a revelation, but the heavenly night lantern is composed entirely of dark volcanic rock. The moon is not like our planet because it lacks a hot core. That is, in front of us is an absolutely lifeless piece of rock. In addition, it does not rotate, so it always turns only one side. To explain to children why does she shine parents and teachers at school should talk about how its surface reflects sunlight.

The moon is a kind of mirror, but a rather bad one. Since the material itself is dark, it reflects only 12% of the light. In addition, this number varies depending on the orbit and time. The maximum flux is formed when the lunar orbit is directed directly to. Children should know that we call this phenomenon a full moon.

At this time, the Moon seems very large and bright, highlighting the "face" noticeably. To do explanation for children complete, show them the images. This is a whole chain of processes: first, the orbit changes, after which the angle decreases, and we get less and less light. During other cycles, only 8% is reflected. Due to the elliptical orbit, the satellite periodically comes closer. Therefore, at the moments of the supermoon, we get as much as 20%. This light is so bright that astronomers are forced to hide telescopes, as it blocks the radiation of other objects.

To explain to children more details about why the moon shines, parents can tell about the lunar composition. It is a volcanic rock that is over 4.5 billion years old. It has no atmosphere (as well as wind and rain), so the surface only changes from impacts from other objects (such as asteroids). It is because of this that there are so many mountains and craters on it. Due to the change in angle, the light is also transformed (it becomes dimmer). When the angle is sharp, you can see that the craters and mountains cast shadows. Therefore, at some moments, the Moon seems so "nondescript".

Children may be surprised to learn that our ancestors received much more light. The fact is that the Moon is gradually moving away from the Earth, breaking out of the earth's gravity. But a complete separation will not happen. Now you understand why the Moon shines and where this "glow" comes from. If children or schoolchildren of any age are curious to know more interesting facts and details about the natural satellite of the Earth, then be sure to visit the other pages of the section. Don't forget to use the 3D model solar system, which shows all the planets, as well as a map of the Moon, its surface and features of rotation in orbit. For the rest, our photos, pictures, drawings, as well as an online telescope operating in real time will always help you.

The word "moon" itself comes from the Proto-Slavic luna - that is, "bright". For all the time of its existence, humanity has been interested in this celestial satellite of the Earth almost more than the Sun.


Perhaps the reason is that the light of the moon - strange, white and cold, was inexplicable, and then medieval man. If the Sun is a raging flame, warmth, its analogue is the earthly hearth, then what is the Moon?

Deprived scientific knowledge people of antiquity said that the sun shines, and the moon shines. It is amazing how accurately these synonymous words describe the essence of the phenomenon: “shining” means radiating, giving off light, power; “shines” means simply illuminating without spreading energy. So shine rivers, mirrors, smooth stones.

The moon shines like... coal

With the development of science, mankind has learned that the light of the moon is reflected: the rays of the sun fall on its surface and are partially reflected. The reflection is surprisingly low and comparable to that of charcoal, about 7%. However, the dimensions of a celestial body also determine its brightness in comparison with a porous and very light-intensive material.

But the mystery of moonlight is not only in its origin. A great miracle for mankind was the change in the illumination of the satellite. And only with the discovery and study of the rotation of the Earth around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth, the phenomenon acquired a completely ordinary explanation - there was no place for magic in it.

Moon phases. moon waxing and waning

The phases of the moon are the degree of illumination of the lunar surface from the point of view of an earthling. We see either a full light oval of a celestial body, or a sickle of different thicknesses, or a “slice”.

The change of phases is determined by the juxtaposition of the Sun, Earth and Moon. During the lunar, or synodic, month (about 29 days 13 hours), the satellite revolves around our planet, illuminated by the Sun in different ways. When the Earth completely blocks the Moon from us, it becomes invisible. Then, with the advancement, a thin sickle appears - from that side the Sun "reaches" the satellite.

This cycle is easy to model using a table lamp and two objects of different sizes. By simulating the movement of the Earth and the Moon around the Sun, you can observe the similarity of the phases of illumination of the satellite.

... The days go by - the Moon moves further and further along its orbit and is "visible" to the Sun more and more, that is, we can better see its illuminated side. This is expressed in the growth of the sickle to a “slice”, and then to a full “turnip”, as they once said in Slavic villages.

After a few days of a full oval, we begin to notice its decrease - in fact, it begins immediately after reaching fullness, but it is not visible to the eye.

Why put a wand to the moon?

Often people confuse: what is the moon now - growing or waning? This is important to know for many reasons. For example, the lunar cycle greatly influences crop and garden work, causing high / low tides not only in the oceans, but in everything that contains water.

Plant breeders in the growing moon, when the water rises, it is better to sow the seeds, and on the waning moon - to transplant plants. According to Macquarie Securities, an analyst department, the late waning period and the new moon period are the times when investment returns are highest.

For the study, 32 major stock indexes were taken in dynamics since 1988, and all of them confirmed the trend. There is a lot of such information, some of them are confirmed by practice, but scientific explanation have not yet received.

If you need to understand what state the Moon is in - growing or waning, try putting a “wand” on it - stretch your finger, take a pencil, etc. If the letter “p” is obtained, then the Moon is growing, if not (more precisely, "p" in the opposite direction, like q), then the Moon is waning.

So why does the moon only glow at night? Every day for a month she new form?
Either the Moon is round, like a ball, or it is very thin, like a sickle, or there is no Moon at all. Even in ancient times, people noticed these phenomena, and began to invent different fairy tales. But it turned out to be very simple.

The moon itself cannot glow, it is not a star. It is the sun's rays that fall on it, and it reflects them, sending them to the Earth. At the same time, it seems to us that the moon is glowing.

Of course, the Moon does not shine at night like the Sun during the day, but its light is enough to distinguish objects.

We always see only that part of the Moon, which is hit by the sun's rays. Each time the sun illuminates the moon in a different way, so we see a different shape of it all the time.

The Moon is a satellite of the Earth, that is, it revolves around it. It circles the entire Earth in a month. When the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, a new moon occurs, since it does not reflect the sun's rays. The full moon occurs when half of the moon is visible from the Earth, illuminated by the Sun.

Then comes the moonlit night, this is when the light does not hit either side of the moon.

Someone might think that the Moon illuminates the Earth, he is not mistaken, but vice versa, when the sun does not hit the Moon, the light reflected from the Earth illuminates it in the same way.

Sometimes people say "dark side of the moon". This does not mean at all that one of the halves of the satellite does not reflect light.

Many children, and even some adults, are interested in the question, why does the moon shine? After all, this is not a star, it does not have a burning surface, it is quite an ordinary dense planet, and there is no high content of phosphorus on it. What's the matter?

In the past, there were many different points of view. For example, the early Christians never had the question "why does the moon shine?" Even on the first pages of the Bible it is said that God created the Sun to illuminate the day (daylight), and the Moon to disperse the darkness of the night (night light).

A little earlier, in the pre-Christian period, the pagans considered the satellite of the Earth to be the patron goddess of the night. And even now in the literature one can sometimes read about ghostly moonlight.

It is human nature to believe in miracles! What is its reason, since it is so different from the solar or artificial we are used to? Why does the moon glow?

In fact, the answer to the question "why does the moon glow" is very simple.

The Moon is a natural and only satellite of the Earth, rotating both around it and around its own axis, moreover, this happens in the same period of time, therefore the Moon is always turned to us on one side, which is where the expression “reverse side” comes from. Moon."

The moon itself does not have the property to glow, but why does the moon glow? It is only capable of reflecting sunlight or the light of the Sun reflected by the Earth onto the Moon. It often happens that the Earth closes, completely or partially, the access of light to the Moon from the Sun, just then we see the growing and falling Moon, that is, only part of it or we do not see it at all, as on a moonless night.

Very sharp temperature changes occur on the Moon, due to the lack of its own atmosphere, such as the Earth has and protects us from direct exposure to sunlight and without which life on Earth could not exist.

A day on the moon lasts 14 days, which is why the moon shines on these days, and at this time the sun heats the surface of the moon to more than 100 degrees Celsius, the next 14 days the moon night comes, then the sun does not hit the surface of the moon and it cools to - 200 degrees Celsius, heat cannot linger on the surface of the moon, since there are no atmospheric layers to stabilize temperature changes.

Even in those distant times, when the ancestors of man only made their first meaningful steps on the planet, the attention of many was riveted by the Moon. Why? Everything is simple! Parents know that even the smallest child, who walks with difficulty, seeing the Moon in the sky, will draw the attention of adults to it. Indeed, a bright ball hanging in the night sky, ten times larger than the largest star, cannot go unnoticed. Every adult knows well why the moon glows. This is not only obvious, but also explained in astronomy lessons.

However, before everything was far from so obvious and there were many different points of view. For example, the early Christians never had the question "why does the moon shine?" Even on the first pages of the Bible it is said that God created the Sun to illuminate the day (daylight), and the Moon - to disperse the darkness of the night (night light). A little earlier, in the pre-Christian period, the pagans considered the patron goddess of the night. And even now in the literature one can sometimes read about ghostly moonlight. It is human nature to believe in miracles… What is the reason for it, since it is so different from the solar or artificial we are used to? Why does the moon glow? Where, in general, did the epithet "ghostly" come from? In fact, the answer to the question "why does the moon glow" is very simple. As you know, any body, the reflection coefficient of which differs from zero upwards, is able to reflect part of the light flux incident on it. This property is used by some manufacturers of lighting fixtures: there are varieties of chandeliers, the glow of which lamps is directed by reflectors not down, as in the usual design solutions, but up, into the ceiling. Thanks to this, soft (ghostly) lighting is created in the room, which is not blinding at all - the so-called diffused light reflected by the ceiling surface in all directions.

Moonlight appears in a similar way. In our star system, only one is characterized by an intense glow - the Sun. Its luminous flux also falls on the moon, from where it is partially reflected. According to rough estimates, the brightness of moonlight is 26 times less than that of the sun. If our satellite, then it could be "seen" only with the help of instruments; Well, if the Moon had a mirror surface, then its luminosity would almost not be inferior to the Sun.

There are phases: new moon, young moon, quarter, full moon. Since the shape of the satellite is spherical, depending on relative position of the conditional system "Sun-Moon-Earth", the visible shape of the Moon in the sky periodically changes. If the satellite enters the Earth's shadow, then the sun's rays do not reach its surface, so the night sky is empty (in fact, the Moon is always there, just the reflected light of the Earth itself and the stars is not enough to see the satellite). This is a new moon.

The appearance of a luminous crescent symbolizes a new phase - neomenia. A few days later, the right half already “shines” - this is the first quarter. Then comes the time of the full disk - the full moon. And, finally, it is replaced by the last quarter - the left half glows. Gradually, half turns into a sickle (letter "C") and the cycle repeats.

Although, it would seem, the natural satellite of our planet should have been fully studied long ago, but this is not so. Lunar exploration continues. With surprising constancy, assumptions are made that the satellite is hollow. Indirectly, this is confirmed every now and then fixed over a surface covered with a layer of dust. Perhaps, inside the Moon there are secret bases of an unknown race, hidden from the curious human eye. This is yet to be figured out by scientists. Be that as it may, almost every night we can admire the wonderful moonlight, diligently dispersing the darkness of the night.