What is the difference between a lunar month and a sidereal month?
Why are they different?” The Moon, located an average distance of 380,000 km away, orbits the Earth at an average speed of about 3,680 km/hr and completes its orbit in about 27.25 days. The orbit is tilted about five degrees to the ecliptic plane. The 27.25 days is the length of the sidereal month, just over 2 days shorter than the lunar month of 29.5 days. The sidereal month is the actual time it takes the Moon to orbit the Earth, but the lunar month is how long it takes for us to notice the completion of the orbit (to return to a moon phase) due to the Earth also orbiting around the Sun. 10. “Describe the Moon’s cycle of phases and explain why we see the phases of the Moon. Also explain why someone living on the Moon would see the Earth go through phases.” The lunar cycle contains the New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Third Quarter, and Waning Crescent. The New Moon is not visible in the night sky, compared to the Full Moon in which
