Moon Observation

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Introduction. This lab was conducted over the course of six weeks, in which the observation of the moon’s phase cycle. This Moon lab can be completed within five weeks. Due to the weather, I had to extend the lab an extra week and complete the missed Moon phase as my final observation. The first observation was conducted on September 29, 2015 at 8:45 PM. The second observation was delayed by a week as mentioned about and was completed on October 15, 2015 at 7:30 PM. The third observation was on October 24, 2015 at 6:01 PM. The fourth observation was conducted on November 1, 2015 at 10:21 PM. The final observation was completed on November 9, 2015 at 6:04 PM. All the observations were done at my residence in Denver, Colorado off of Tower Road …show more content…
All of the observations were obtained using a naked eye observation. One the first night of observation the sky was partly cloudy, and the moon was at the waning gibbous phase. It was 75° East and approximately 40° of arc from the horizon in the night sky. The angular distance from the Moon to the Sun was 154°.

The second night of observation the sky was clear. The Moon was at the waxing crescent phase. It was at 296° Northwest and approximately 20° of arc from the horizon in the sky. Due to its closer proximity to the horizon the Moons apparent size was larger than the Moon observed during the first observation. The angular distance from the Moon to the Sun was 39°.

On the third observation the sun was still out. The Moon was at the waxing gibbous phase. It was in the sky at 159° south and was approximately 40° of arc from the horizon. The angular distance from the Moon to the Sun was 142°.

The fourth night of observation the sky was clear. The Moon was at the waning gibbous phase. It was in the sky at 30° Northeast and was approximately 20° of arc from the horizon. During this observation the Moon’s apparent size was the largest in size than on any other night in observation. The angular distance from the Moon to the Sun was