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• 5. The Lunar Cycle

What is the pattern of the lunar cycle

Use information from this  Moon cycle  page to help you find out about the pattern of the lunar cycle. Go to the  Moon connection  website to find out more.

Starter questions

• How many days does it take for the Moon to change from one full Moon to the next full Moon?
• Is there a pattern to the way the Moon’s appearance changes? What is the pattern?
• How many days are there between a new Moon and a full Moon??

More information

• The lunar cycle that we see is longer than the Moon’s 27.3 day orbit of the Earth because each time the Moon has orbited the Earth, the Earth has moved about one-twelfth of its orbit around the Sun.
• The different Moon phases we see over a month repeat every 29.5 days. (Note: 30 days is used in the model above.) This is called a lunar cycle.
• Sometimes you can see “the new moon in the arms of the old” – a thin, crescent Moon within a dim outline of the whole Moon. The crescent shines by reflecting light from the Sun. The dim outline shines by reflecting light from the Earth. This is called earthshine.

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