Astronomy 191 Inquiry Project

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University of Kentucky *

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110

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Astronomy

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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Hitesman 1 Cheyenne Hitesman Dr. Troland AST191 Section 001 2 April 2023 Astronomy 191 Inquiry Project Testable Predictions: Model 1: Moon phases are caused by the shadow of the Earth on the Moon. If Model 1 is correct, then: 1. I predict that the percent of the Moon illuminated will be 100% throughout a month except for a short time when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow and is briefly dark. I believe this because, if this model is correct, then the illumination of the Moon on a given date should not be related to the time difference between sunrise and moonrise. 2. I predict that the new moon only occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are lined up, in that order. I predict this because, according to this model, the Moon must be in the Earth’s shadow for there to be a new moon. Since the Moon’s orbit is slightly tilted relative to the orbit of the Earth, it would make sense that the Moon will not pass through the Earth’s shadow every month. Model 2: Moon phases are caused by the varying angle between the Moon and Sun in the sky. If Model 2 is correct, then 1. I predict that, because solar objects are always moving, the Moon should only be in the full phase for a small portion of the month. 2. I predict that the new moon will be observed about once a month.

Hitesman 2 Moon Phase Data: The data for all columns in this table, except for column C, was taken from the website timeanddate.com. The data for column C was taken from almanac.com. One thing that we can observe from this data is that there is no given time of moonrise for 05/08/23. Another thing is that, for these dates, we do not see all four phases of the moon because we do not observe a full moon. Analysis and Interpretations: As previously stated, we can see that there is no time of moonrise of 05/08/23. This is because the moonrise for 05/06/23 is at 22:02. The next time for moonrise would be just after 05/08/23, at 00:22 on 05/09/23, according to timeanddate.com. Another thing we can see is that the time differences between sunrise and moonrise seem to be related to the illumination of the Moon. On days when the percentage of the Moon that is illuminated is lower, the time difference between moonrise and sunrise is also lower. For example, on 4/20/23, the percentage of the Moon that is illuminated is just 0.4%. The difference between moonrise and sunrise on this same date is just 0.25. On a day where the Moon is more illuminated, we can see that the difference

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