Video: Moon phases for all of 2013

The video was created with data from from the Clementine moon mission of 1990s, plus measurements from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, orbiting now.

Here’s a cool visualization showing the moon’s phase throughout the year 2013, at hourly intervals. When 2013 actually arrives, the image of the moon at the top will automatically change every hour to represent the phase of the real moon in real time. That’ll be neat.

Data from the Clementine moon mission of the 1990s, combined with images and topography measurements from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, were used to create this video. It also shows moon position in orbit, distance from the Earth, and a lot more. You’ll probably have to play this video several times to catch everything. To learn more about what’s being shown in this visualization, or to see what the moon will look like at any hour in 2013 (beginning in 2013), click here.

By the way, the video also shows lunar libration, and you might notice it if you watch the video carefully. Libration is an apparent rocking, tipping and tilting of the moon over the course of every month. It’s not a real motion of the moon (the moon isn’t really rocking, tipping and tilting), but just an apparent motion caused by the fact that we see the moon from a slightly different angle every day. Like all bodies in space, the moon has an orbit around its parent body (Earth) that’s shaped like an ellipse, like a circle someone sat down on. Also, the moon’s axis of rotation is tilted slightly with respect to the plane of its orbit. The result of the moon’s elliptical orbit and tilt is that – from our earthly perspective – we perceive rocking, tipping and tiling of lunar libration. Watch for it in this video.

Bottom line: Video showing moon phases, and more, for all of 2013 via data from NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and the Clementine moon mission of the 1990s.

- EarthSky