Study the moon phases with this tool. Phases of Moon Model allows students to explore how the relative position of Sun, Earth, and Moon produce the various phases of the moon, as seen from the Earth. The main window displays Earth (at the center) and Moon, with a circle tracing out Moon's orbit. Sun is far to the right in this picture and therefore the right side of Earth and Moon are bright while the left sides are dark. As the simulation runs, a separate "Moon View" window shows progressive photos of the appearance of the Moon as seen from Earth.

The right window shows the appearance of Moon as seen from Earth when Moon is in the position shown in the left window. Note that the darkness of the dark part of Moon changes depending on the loction of Moon in its orbit. This is because Moon receives reflected light from Earth, a phenomenon known as Earthlight, and the amount of reflected light received is connected to the location of Moon in its orbit.

Requirements:
* Java

The license of this software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this graphing software.