Name _____________________________________________________________
Phases of
the Moon
Workbook –
B Layer
At the end of the Phases of the Moon unit, you
should be able to complete the following…
Description
Understand and correctly use unit vocabulary.
Name and identify the eight major phases of the
Moon.
Explain the Moon’s pattern of change over one month.
Distinguish the position of the Earth Moon, and Sun
at each lunar phase.
Compare and contrast rotation and revolution.
Passed
A Blue Moon Mistake
Magazine Corrects a Misinterpretation
by Tom Kirchofer
Associated Press
BOSTON--Once in a blue Moon, a widely accepted definition has to be rewritten.
Take the term "blue Moon" itself.
For half a century, it's been known as the second full Moon in a month, like the one
that appeared Wednesday. But that's wrong, and the editors of Sky & Telescope say
it's their fault: The magazine incorrectly defined the term 53 years ago.
"I hate to admit it," said Roger Sinnott, associate editor of Sky & Telescope.
Sinnott blamed the goof on an amateur astronomer.
James Hugh Pruett wrote a 1946 piece for the magazine after apparently
misinterpreting a complex 1937 article in the Maine Farmer's Almanac that
essentially, but not clearly, said a blue Moon occurs when a season has four full
Moons, rather than the usual three. Pruett mistakenly thought that meant a
blue Moon is the second full Moon within the same month.
Pruett's mistake went unnoticed for decades. A 1980 National Public Radio story
about blue Moons used the wrong definition. In 1986, the board game Trivial
Pursuit repeated the error. When two full Moons appeared in May 1988, "radio
stations and newspapers everywhere carried an item on this bit of 'old folklore,'"
folklorist Philip Hiscock wrote in the magazine's March issue.
Sky & Telescope, based in Cambridge, discovered the error when it was working on
an article about how January and March of this year featured what would have
been two blue Moons by Pruett's definition.
Although Sky & Telescope's editors think Pruett's mistake led to the popular
modern mis-definition of "blue Moon," it's unclear were the Maine Farmer's Almanac
came up with the rule. The almanac is defunct.
Although the term "blue Moon" has existed for centuries, Sinnott said his research
of almanacs dating to the early 1800s found no precise definitions until 1937.
By either definition--Pruett's or the almanac's--blue Moons occur about every two or
three years, Sinnott said. The last blue Moon was in November 2010. The next will
be in August 2012.
1
"This meaning is so entrenched now. Nothing we can do is going to put the genie
back in the bottle," Sinnott said. "Our big mistake in 1946 has really caught on and
there's no turning back."
Questions
1. What magazine gave us the wrong definition of a blue Moon?
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the definition of a blue Moon?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the wrong definition of a blue Moon?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. When was the last blue Moon? When will we have the next blue Moon?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2
Graphing Phases of the Moon
How many days is it between Moon phases? Using the dates below, complete the
table showing how many days the Moon stays in each phase. When you are done,
make a bar graph showing the information in your table.
Dates
March 5th - New Moon
March 6th – 10th - Waxing Crescent
March 11th - 1st quarter
March 12th – 18th - Waxing Gibbous
March 19th - Full Moon
March 20th – 26th - Waning Gibbous
March 27th - Last/3rd Quarter
March 28th – April 2nd – Waning Crescent (March has 31 days)
April 3rd - New Moon
Using the information above, complete the table below.
Phase of Moon
Number of Days
Using the information in the table, make a bar graph.
3
4
Using a Moon Clock To Tell Time
Purpose: To predict the rising and setting of various phases of the Moon.
Materials
 Moon Clock
 Scissors
 Brad fastener
Construction
1. Cut out both pieces of the Moon Clock.
2. Use the tip of the scissors to punch a small hole through the X in each piece.
Place the smaller portion on the top of the larger circle and push the brad through
both holes.
3. Spread the brad out so that the smaller portion rotates freely.
Learning to Use It
1. Hold your Moon clock so that you can read the words Southern Horizon on the
smaller portion and they are right side up.
2. Turn the smaller portion so that the arrow above the S points to the Full Moon.
Read the time above the arrow. (Midnight) This is when the full Moon will be the
highest in the sky.
3. Place the Full Moon so it is above the letter E. This represents the eastern
horizon where the Moon rises.
4. Read the time above the S arrow. (6 PM) This is when the Full Moon will rise.
5. Place the Full Moon so it is above the letter W. This represents the western
horizon where the Moon sets.
6. Read the time above the S arrow. (6 AM) This is when the Full Moon will set.
Practice Using It
Use your Moon Clock to answer the following questions.
1. At what time will the New Moon be highest in the sky? _________________________
2. At what time will the First Quarter rise? _______________________________________
5
3. At what time will the Waning Crescent set? ____________________________________
4. When the Sun is setting in the west, what phase is rising in the East?
________________________________
5. The Sun is setting. At what time would you see a 1st Quarter Moon?
________________________________
6. What Moon phase is high overhead at Noon? __________________________________
7. What time would a 1st Quarter Moon set? ______________________________________
8. What time would a New Moon rise? ___________________________________________
9. What time would a Waning Gibbous Moon be overhead? _______________________
10. What Moon phase would be visible overhead at midnight? ____________________
11. What Moon phase would be overhead at 6:00 a.m.? ___________________________
12. What time would a Waning Gibbous Moon set? ______________________________
6
Moon Phases
Exercise 1
Shown below are different phases of the Moon as seen by an observer in the
Northern Hemisphere.
Ranking Instructions
Beginning with the waning gibbous phase of the Moon, rank the Moon phases
shown below in the order that the observer would see them over the next four
weeks.
Ranking Order
1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___
First Phase Following Waning Gibbous
Last Phase Seen
Or, all of these phases would be visible at the same time. ___ (indicate with a check
mark).
Exercise 2
In the set of figures below, the Moon is shown in the first quarter phase at different
times of the day (or night). Assume that sunset occurs at 6 p.m. and that sunrise
occurs at 6 a.m. (Hint: Use your Moon Clock to complete Exercise 2.)
7
Instructions: Determine the time at which each view of the Moon would have been
seen, and write it on each panel in the figure. (What time would it be when you see
this Moon?)
8
Exercise 3
In the set of figures below, the Moon is shown overhead, at its highest point in the
sky, but in different phases. Assume that sunset occurs at 6 p.m. and that sunrise
occurs at 6 a.m. (Hint: Use your Moon Clock to complete Exercise 3.)
Instructions: Determine the time at which each view of the Moon would have been
seen, and write it on each panel of the figure. (What time would it be when you see
this Moon?)
9
Exercise 4
In the two sets of figures below, the Moon is shown in different parts of the sky and
in different phases. Assume that sunset occurs at 6 p.m. and that sunrise occurs at
6 a.m. (Hint: Use your Moon Clock to complete Exercise 4.)
Instructions: Determine the time at which each view of the Moon would have been
seen, and write it on each panel of the figure. (What time would it be when you see
this Moon?)
10
Sun-Sentinel
(Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
Aug. 11, 2003, pp. D1
Lunacy
The worst things in the world happen during a full Moon, right? Wrong.
By Ken Kaye
Staff Writer
For those given to lore, it might seem likely that a full Moon shone on the sinking of
the Titanic in 1912, the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 or the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
The full Moon, after all, is frequently associated with dark calamities, if not
werewolves and haunted houses.
But that wasn't the case.
Surely, then, the Moon turned full on the day the stock market crashed in 1929, or
that Amelia Earhart vanished in 1937 or President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated in 1963, right?
Nope.
The fact is a full Moon--such as we'll have just after midnight tonight, in the wee
hours Tuesday--has been in the sky during very few major world events in the past
century, which would seem to debunk the myth that lunar forces inspire aberrant
behavior or influence the course of history on Earth.
"There are always lots of reports of strange things during a full Moon. But I think if
you look at overall statistics, there's no correlation," says Geoff Chester of the U.S.
Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., which has kept a careful record of full
Moons dating to 1700.
A review of full Moon dates, compiled by the Naval Observatory, shows that most of
the major events of our time took place during some other lunar phase.
For instance, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6,
1945, the Moon was in its last-quarter phase. When civil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968, the Moon was new. President Richard
Nixon's resignation in August 1974 came six days after the full Moon.
11
Even for humankind's major forays into space, when you might think a full Moon
would be appropriate, it was a no-show.
When Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in April 1961,
the Moon was in its last-quarter phase. When Neil Armstrong took the first step on
the lunar surface in July 1969, it was during the gibbous waxing Moon.
Some major developments did happen close to a full Moon:
One day after a full Moon, on Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American
to orbit the Earth.
Two days after a full Moon, on Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger
exploded, killing seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
But of the major historic milestones in the past 100 years, only D-Day, June 6,
1944, when Allied Forces stormed the beaches of northern France to begin the
conquest of Germany in Europe, took place during a full Moon.
And that was deliberate: Military commanders wanted lots of Moonlight so airborne
troops could land near enemy lines and Navy ships could fire on German targets
with precision before dawn.
Strange Things Happen
On the other hand, some strange things have occurred on full Moon dates, even in
our back yard.
Tillie Tooter, a Pembroke Pines grandmother who had been forced off Interstate 595
by another driver, was rescued on Aug. 15, 2000, a full Moon date, after spending
three days trapped in her shattered car.
On Jan. 16, 1995, a mother mixed-breed Rottweiler unearthed nine of her puppies,
which had been buried alive in a yard near Fort Lauderdale by a man who didn't
want the dogs--during a full Moon.
From a global standpoint, full Moons have seen their share of mayhem:
On Jan. 16, 1995, a Japan earthquake killed more than 400 people.
On Nov. 11, 2000, 170 skiers and snowboarders were trapped and killed when their
cable car caught fire while being pulled through an Alpine tunnel.
On Jan. 28, 2002, more than 600 were killed in Nigeria, trying to flee explosions at
an army weapons depot, only to drown.
Did the Moon actually provoke any of these episodes?
12
No way, astronomers and historians say.
"It's pure coincidence," says Travis Wright, an employee at Buehler Planetarium in
Davie. "I doubt that it has anything to do with the voice of the universe telling
people what to do."
On the other hand, astrologers, or those who think celestial bodies affect the course
of human events, say a full Moon makes people more amorous.
"The Moon affects tides, and since our bodies are mostly water, there probably is a
physical reaction," says Linea Van Horn, an accredited astrologer who works for
Astrology.com, the largest astrological site on the Internet, based in San Francisco.
"When it's big and beautiful in the sky, it does awaken something in us humans."
According to folklore, the full Moon usually has negative connotations, says
Christine Jackson, a professor of humanities at Nova Southeastern University in
Davie.
For instance, she says it is believed the full Moon triggers more suicides than usual
and sends more people to mental institutions.
In fiction and film, the Werewolf needed the light of the full Moon to come to life,
and Dracula had to avoid Moonlight to suck blood from his victims.
In the recent movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, moonlight revealed the pirates were
half-dead, nothing but skeletons.
"So the light of a full Moon can sometimes show death," she says
Only a Minute
Astronomically speaking, a full Moon occurs for about one minute, when the Moon
and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. The reason this instant is so short is
that all three bodies are in constant motion.
However, planetarium officials consider the full Moon to occur over a full day and
even more loosely, over three days, says Jack Horkheimer, director of Miami
Planetarium.
"The night before a full Moon and night after full Moon look that same to the
untrained eye," he says.
The Moon has four major phases in a month, or more precisely, 29.5 days: New
Moon, first quarter, full Moon, and last quarter.
Those phases are further broken down into waxing crescent, waxing gibbous,
13
waning crescent and waning gibbous, based on how much of the lighted surface is
visible…
Horkheimer says the myth that the Moon creates strange events arises from ancient
times, when there were few cities and the countryside was extremely dark on
Moonless nights.
The full Moon provided enough light for people to attend festivals and other
gatherings at night. This was when they were most susceptible to thieves,
pickpockets and robbers, he says.
That led to the fear that the full Moon created havoc in people's lives, he says.
Today, police can't say for sure whether crime increases during a full Moon, other
than to say the "freaks" tend to come out. But then, they note such people come out
the rest of [the] time as well.
"In general, in South Florida, it's irrelevant whether the Moon's in or out," says
Hollywood Police Lt. Tony Rode. "We have our fair share of crime either way."
As for that term "lunatics," derived from "Luna," the Roman Moon goddess:
Horkheimer says the light of a full Moon might keep people up at night, and a lack
of sleep might make them cranky, if not crazy.
But does the full Moon inspire werewolves to howl or monsters to come out?
Only in people's imaginations, Horkheimer says.
"People want to believe in the mysterious, in magic and in things beyond their
control," he said. "So if something happens they can say it must have been the full
Moon."
Moon Facts
 The Moon is believed to be 4.6 billion years old, the same age as the Earth.
 It has no atmosphere or water.
 It is comprised of a rocky material that is heavily scarred with craters from
meteorite impacts.
 The same side is permanently turned toward Earth.
 The gravitational forces between the Earth and the Moon generate two ocean
high tides per day.
 The word "lunatic" comes from the notion that the Moon's forces could make a
person go crazy.
 The Moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of 3.8 centimeters each
year. When it formed, the Moon was about 14,000 miles from Earth; now it's
about 240,000 miles away.
14
Moon Nicknames












January: Wolf Moon
February: Ice or Snow Moon
March: Storm or Worm Moon
April: Growing or Pink Moon
May: Hare or Flower Moon
June: Mead or Strawberry Moon
July: Hay or Buck Moon
August: Corn or Sturgeon Moon
September: Harvest Moon
October: Blood or Hunter's Moon
November: Snow or Beaver Moon
December: Cold Moon
Historic Moon Events
 Dec. 16, 1773: Boston Tea Party; new Moon
 July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence; waning gibbous.
 April 12, 1865: Surrender of the Confederate Army after the battle of
Appomattox, signaling the end of the Civil War; waning gibbous
 April 14, 1865: President Abraham Lincoln assassinated; waning gibbous
Questions
1. Lunar forces inspire unusual behavior or influence the course of history on
Earth.
a. True
b. False
2. Most of the major events of our time did not happen during a Full Moon.
a. True
b. False
3. According to astronomers, a Full Moon causing bad things to happen is pure
___________________________________________________________.
4. A full Moon occurs for about __________________________________________________.
5. List three Moon facts.
a.
b.
15
c.
6. During which month is the Moon called the Hare or Flower Moon?
__________________________________________________________________________________
7. During which month is the Moon called the Harvest Moon?
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. Lists the phase of the Moon for the following events:
a. Boston Tea Party; ________________________________________________________
b. Declaration of Independence: _____________________________________________
c. End of the Civil War: _____________________________________________________
Going Thru a Phase
(modified from a MESSENGER Education Module)
Using the October 2011 calendar, answer the following questions.
1. How did the Moon change during the month?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
16
25
26
27
28
29
30
2. How long did it take (or you think it takes) for the Moon to make one complete
cycle? How do you know this?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
17
3. What exactly is changing—is the Moon really getting bigger and smaller? How can
you tell?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Materials






Gumball
Small piece of modeling clay
Paper fastener
Scissors
Flashlight
Tape
Procedure
1. Cut out Circle A, leaving the entire picture intact.
2. Push the paper fastener through the center of Circle A.
3. Push the paper fastener through the center of Circle B.
4. Spread the flaps of the paper fastener apart so that they are fat against the paper
and tape them to the paper.
5. Tape your model to the table or a piece of cardboard so that the part labeled
SUNLIGHT is facing the lamp.
6. Push the piece of clay onto the spot that says Gumball on circle B. Push the
gumball into the clay so that it is secure. This gumball is your model Moon.
7. Line up the model Moon with the number one (1) in Circle B.
8. Lean down so that you are eye level with the table and look at the model Moon
from the point of view of the observer on the model Earth. This viewing spot allows
you to observe the Moon as it would look from the observer’s point of view from
Earth.
9. Draw a picture of what you see in the box directly BEHIND the model Moon.
10. Rotate the disk so that the model Moon moves to the next number, which is
number two (2), and repeat steps 9 and 10. Note: do not block the light from the
lamp illuminating the model Moon.
18
11. Repeat steps 8 through 10 for position numbers three (3), four (4), five (5), six
(6), seven (7), and eight (8).
Questions
1. Can you think of another explanation for the phases of the Moon other than with
what you have just experimented? Explain why another hypothesis may be correct
or incorrect, and explain how you could make an experiment to demonstrate
whether this is true.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Make a Lunar Calendar
An old New England anecdote describes how farmers received reliable weather
reports before radio and TV. Each morning, the farmer would look at a stone hung
outside his window. Just a glance could tell him just as much about the weather as
any high-tech modern gadgets: if it's wet, it's raining; if it's white, it's snowing; if it's
swaying, it's windy; and if it can't be seen, it's foggy. Similarly, many of the simplest
ways of determining time are obvious: if it's dark, it's night; if light, day; if warm,
summer; if cold, winter.
Unfortunately, such simple indicators are usually not sufficient. It is not enough for
people planning winter rations of food to know that it's winter. They need to know
for how much longer it will be winter. Farmers planning their crops need to know
when to plant their fields.
Nature does provide several other ways to keep track of time, however. The motion
of the stars can be used as a calendar. Even more conspicuous in the evening sky
than the stars, however, is the Moon. The Moon shines very brightly with reflected
sunlight. As the Moon orbits the Earth, we view it from different angles, and see its
different phases. The phases of the Moon provided the foundation for many early
calendars. In this Topic, we will explore how we might keep track of time with the
Moon.

19
The moon is the most conspicuous object in the night sky. Its differing appearance
as it follows its cycle of phases is a natural and obvious way to track time. This
activity encourages you to think create an alternate calendar using the length of a
lunar cycle as a month.
Materials
 Pencil
Procedure
1. Count and write down the number of days between full moons. (Note: Use the
October 2011 calendar to count days between each of the phases below.)
Number of Days: _____________
2. What about the number of days between quarter moons?
Number of Days: _____________
3. What about the number of days between waning crescents?
Number of Days: _____________
4. What about the number of days between waxing crescents?
Number of Days: _____________
5. Create a calendar calendars based on the information in 1-4. You must decide
where in the moon's cycle to begin the month. You may name their months.
3. Have your group make a whole year (365 days) of moon months and join them
together into a calendar. You can calculate the number of days in a week and a
lunar month. Devise a strategy to deal with any extra days.
Questions
1. How useful are the moon's monthly cycles in constructing a calendar?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
20
2. Are there any difficulties involved with basing a calendar on the lunar cycle?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. Is seven a good number of days per week? Could we have 5 days in a week or
10?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Orbit and Spin
Materials







Ball firmly affixed to 2-3 foot string
Earth/Moon cutouts
Scissors
One sheet cardstock
Scissors
2 brads
Items that spin
Procedure
1. Go to the Orbit Station. Get a ball with string. Go outside or into the hall and twirl
it over your head.
2. Complete the Orbit Station section of the worksheet.
3. Go to the Spin Station. Stand in one place and spin around. Spin the items at the
station. How is this different from the activity done at the Orbit Station?
4. Complete the Spin Station section of the worksheet.
21
Orbit and Spin
Orbit Station
What I learned about at the Orbit Station
List two items from this station.
1. _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Write other questions you have below here!
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

1. Describe what happens when you twirl the ball.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
22
2. How does this activity represent the Moon going around the Earth?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Make a model of the Earth/Moon system. How does this demonstrate an object that
orbits?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Based on this activity, in your own words, define orbit.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
5. Give examples of things that orbit
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Spin Station
What I learned about at the Orbit Station
List two items from this station.
1. _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
23
Write other questions you have below here!
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

1. After spinning yourself and the objects, explain how is this different from the
activity done at the Orbit Station?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. In your own words, define spin.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Give examples of things that spin.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Explain the difference between an object that orbits and an object that spins.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
24
Rotation and Revolution Posters
Your assignment is to make three posters.
 A poster explaining rotation.
 A poster explaining revolution.
 A poster showing how the Moon revolves around the Earth.
Scientific concepts which must be covered (do not just answer these questions with
words - use pictures to explain them!!!):
 Why do the Sun, Moon, and the stars appear to move across our sky?
 Why do we see the Moon at different times (sometimes during the day,
sometimes during the night, sometimes during both day and night)?
 Why does the Moon have different phases throughout a month?
To make the poster, you will use three sheets of 11x17 paper. You will use colored
pencils or markers to make the poster. Use your notes, your workbook, and the
textbook to help you.
25
How will your work be graded?
Revolution and Rotation Posters Rubric
Category
4
3
2
1
Required
Elements
The poster
includes all
required
elements as
well as
additional
information.
All required
elements are
included on
the poster.
Most of the
required
elements are
included on
the poster.
Several
required
elements were
missing.
Content Accuracy
All pictures on
the posters
are drawn
accurately.
For example,
on the poster
showing the
phases of the
Moon thru the
month, the
drawings of
the Moon
accurately
show what it
looks like; the
positions of
the Earth,
Moon, and
Sun are
correct, etc.
95% of the
drawings are
drawn
accurately.
90% of the
drawings are
drawn
accurately.
Less than 90%
of the
drawings are
drawn
accurately.
26