• Question: is the moon a reflection to the sun

    Asked by to Matthew, Mark, Mike, Paul, Sabina on 11 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Matthew Malek

      Matthew Malek answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      The moon is a large rock that forms Earth’s only natural satellite. It is not a reflection of the Sun.

      Now, having said all that, when you look at the moon, you are seeing reflected light from the Sun. The moon doesn’t generate light, so without the Sun, it would be dark. Sunlight hits the moon and reflects towards Earth, where it enters your eye and allows you to see the moon.

      So, yes, you are seeing reflected sunlight, but the moon itself is not a reflection.

      Here’s an example to illustrate: If you go outside on a sunny day and look at a flower, you are seeing the flower because of the sunlight reflected from it. But the flower is a flower, not a reflection of the Sun! 😀

      Does that make things a bit clearer?

    • Photo: Paul Coxon

      Paul Coxon answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      The moon reflects light from the sun. At night, when you look up at the moon, the sun is behind you on the other side of the Earth where it’s daytime.

      The sun is throwing out light in all directions and some passes over the Earth, hits the moon, and is reflected down to Earth, this is what we see at night.

    • Photo: Mark Jackson

      Mark Jackson answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      Yes. The only reason that you see the moon at all is because of reflected light; the moon itself does not radiate. This was succinctly expressed by Pink Floyd as the last words of their epic album Dark Side of the Moon: “There is no dark side in the moon, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark.”

    • Photo: Mike Lee

      Mike Lee answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      The sun lights up the moon, just as it lights up us during the day.

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