It is midnight and a fully lit Moon is high overhead. Two weeks later, what will the midnight sky hold?
AA full moon overhead again
BNo moon in the sky at all
CA thin crescent overhead
DA first quarter overhead
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. No moon in the sky at all
1. A fully lit Moon high up at midnight is the full phase.
2. The whole cycle of phases takes about 29.5 days, so two weeks is roughly half of it.
3. Half a cycle after full comes new moon.
4. The new moon lies in the same part of the sky as the Sun.
5. It therefore rises at sunrise and sets at sunset, and is below the horizon at midnight.
6. So nothing lunar is visible at midnight two weeks later.
7. Answering full moon assumes the phase does not change over half a cycle.
8. A crescent or first quarter would need only a few days to pass, not a fortnight.
_Source: OpenStax Astronomy (CC BY 4.0), Ch 4 "Earth, Moon, and Sky" and Ch 5 "Radiation and Spectra", section 4.5 Phases and Motions of the Moon_
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