Why does the moon change shape?

1. 1

   Zib says

   The moon doesn't make its own light. The sun always lights up one half of it. As the moon travels around Earth, we see that sunny half from a different angle each night. When it faces us, we get a full moon. When it faces mostly away, we see a thin slice. One whole round takes about a month.

   For ages 8–10
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   Checked against Moon phases (NASA Space Place)

2. 2

   Why does the moon always show us the same face?

   The moon spins as well as travelling around Earth. One spin takes exactly as long as one trip around us. So as it goes around, it keeps turning to face us, and we always see the same side. The far side gets plenty of sunshine too. We just never see it from here.

   For ages 9–11
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   Checked against Moon phases (NASA Science)

In Lil' Phil, reaching the bottom of this wonder earns a sticker for Zib's collection.

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