Glossary

View of the Earth from the Moon

In this activity you saw how the Moon looks from the Earth. Now take a moment and think about how the Earth might appear when seen from the Moon.

1. What colour will the Earth be?
2. What will be its apparent size? Will it be of the size of the Sun or Moon as they appear from the Earth?
3. Where will the Earth appear? How will it appear to move?
4. Will we see phases of the Earth from the Moon?

Take a look at these photographs to see how the Earth looks from the Moon.

When more than half of the lit part of the Earth is visible from the Moon, we see a Gibbous Earth. The Gibbous Earth is seen from the Moon when we see a Crescent Moon from the Earth.
 

Figure 1: The gibbous Earth as seen from the Moon
(Image Credit: NASA (Image ID: AS11-44-6551) https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo11/hires/as11-44-6551.jpg)


When the entire lit half of the Earth is visible from the Moon, we see the Full Earth. The Full Earth is seen from the Moon when it is New Moon on the Earth.
 

Figure 2: The full Earth as seen from the Moon
(Image credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA / NHK, Kaguya (Selene). http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2008/04/img/20080411_kaguya_01l.jpg)

Find out how the Earth will appear from different positions of the Moon.