Why does the moon glow?
We all know the very familiar natural phenomenon: the sun shines during the day, the moon shines at night. So, where is the light that the Moon glows with?
The answer is, the Moon does not have the ability to glow on its own, it is just a mirror reflecting sunlight. If we stand on the Moon observing the Earth, we will also see that it is very bright because it receives light from the Sun.
In 1969, two astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, they discovered that the lunar surface is dark gray like concrete. Due to its rough surface and dark color, the Moon can only reflect 3% to 12% of sunlight.
We often see, the level of illumination of the Moon at night is often different. That's because the position of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth is different every day. The Moon revolves around the Earth with an orbital period of 27.32 days. During this one cycle, the Moon is illuminated by the Sun from different angles.
When the Moon is facing the Sun, or in other words, when the ecliptic longitudes of the Moon and the Sun differ by 180 degrees, the Moon is at its brightest. At that time, the entire half of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun, so we can see this whole half from Earth. That's called a full moon.
When the Moon is in the position between the Earth and the Sun, the illuminated side of the Moon does not face the Earth, so we cannot see the Moon from the Earth, this phenomenon is called the New Moon phase.
Before and after the New Moon phase occurs, we usually see part of the Moon (Crescent Moon) due to those days because only a small part of the Moon reflects sunlight. The remaining part of the Moon only sees dim light because this part does not receive direct light from the Sun, but only receives sunlight reflected by the Earth, called the "Earth Illumination" phenomenon.
Venus has the ability to reflect sunlight up to 65%, so besides the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky.
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