OtterKnow Kids EncyclopediaThe Moon seems to change shape every night, but it is not really changing at all! The Moon is always a big round ball of rock. What changes is how much of the Moon’s lit side we can see from Earth.
As the Moon orbits around Earth, the Sun lights up different parts of it. Sometimes we see the whole lit side and it looks like a full circle. Other times we see just a little bit and it looks like a thin crescent. The Moon goes through all of its shapes, called phases, in about 29.5 days. Then it starts the cycle all over again!
- The Moon does not make its own light.
- It only reflects sunlight like a big mirror in the sky.
- The half of the Moon facing the Sun is always bright, but we cannot always see that bright half from Earth.
- If you look at the Moon every night for a month, you will see it go through all of its phases!
