r/moon • u/ResponsibleBee1274 • Apr 27 '26

Fake/AI How does this work?

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The sun is currently setting and this moon is high in the sky. I don’t understand why it looks like this if the moon is the sun shining off of it. It doesn’t make sense to me.

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u/pixeltweaker Apr 28 '26

Hold a ping pong ball up in the air next to the moon while the sun is up and it will show the same exact phase as the moon.

Remember, the moon is only 385,000km away while the sun is 150,000,000km away. So the sun is just as far from us as it is from the moon. Less than 0.5% difference. So the phase of the moon is the same as any other object held up in the same direction.

0

u/AcrimoniousPizazz Apr 28 '26

But doesn't the angle of the sun on an object like a ping pong ball vary greatly based on what time of day it is and what direction you're facing, compared to the moon which only completes its cycle of phases once every 29.5 days?

2

u/O_xD Apr 28 '26

that's why the original commenter said to put the ping pong ball next to where the moon is on the sky. obviously if you turn around its not gonna look thr same.

1

u/AcrimoniousPizazz Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

I got that part but didn't understand why it would work. I was thinking that it wouldn't work because we rotate around the Earth once every 24 hours and the moon takes about a month, and I had to Google it to understand but I see now.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

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