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 Originally Posted by supa
One side of the moon is always illuminated by the sun. When the earth is between the moon and sun we see the illuminated side, full moon. When the moon is between the sun and earth we see the dark side, new moon. When the moon is 90 on either side we half of the dark side and half of the illuminated side, quarter moon.
The exception is when the earth is directly between the sun and moon, essentially blocking the suns line of site of the moon which would be a lunar eclipse.
This is not the difficulty that I had :P
The moon is in tidal lock with the earth. The moon has so little rotational energy that the force of gravity of the earth on the close side of the moon overpowers the spin of the moon that the closest part of the moon to the earth is basically constant. That's why there is a dark side of the moon. You're using it wrong if you say "we see the dark side" - it's dark because it's always on the other side of the moon to us. edit: nevermind, i think my dark side of the moon and your dark side of the moon are just different.
Mine is the difficulty of imaging you as an observe, on the surface of the earth, seeing the moon reflecting the light that isn't blocked by the earth as a crescent. It's hard for me to put myself in perspective of the sun and moon. I fully understand that it happens, just that it's difficult to intuitively and apparently put myself in the scheme of things.
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