Moon Phase and Tides, here are what to know about them

The Moon’s gravitational pull is one of the major factors causing and affecting the tides on Earth. The tides would not have occurred on Earth without the existence of the moon’s gravitational pull. And about moon phases and tides, of course, there’s also a very close relationship between them. Check out this article now to learn about how the moon and its phases affect types and levels of tides on Earth.

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Phases of the moon

The Moon needs about 27 days to complete an orbit around Earth but it takes 29.5 days to complete one cycle of phases (from a New Moon to a New Moon). During a full cycle of phases, the Moon goes through 8 major phases, including 4 primary phases and 4 intermediate phases.

Four primary moon phases include New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Third (or Last) Quarter, while 4 intermediate Moon phases are Waxing Crescent Moon, Waxing Gibbous Moon, Waning Gibbous Moon, and Waning Crescent Moon.

These 8 phases always follow one another in the fixed order of New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent.

Each phase presents an angle of the Moon to the Earth. Here are the shapes of each Moon phase that we can see from the Earth:

• New Moon phase: this phase can’t be seen from Earth.

• Waxing Crescent phase: this phase can be seen as a thin crescent opening to the left.

• First Quarter phase: This phase can be seen as a half-moon.

• Waxing Gibbous phase: This one is between a full moon and a half-moon. Waxing means it’s getting bigger.

• Full Moon phase: This is the brightest moon phase, appearing when we see the moon entirely illuminated in the sky.

• Waning Gibbous phase: Like Waxing Gibbous, this phase is also between a half-moon and a full moon. But waning means it’s getting smaller, not bigger.

• Third Quarter phase: This phase can also be seen as a half-moon. However, it is the opposite half as illuminated in the first quarter phase

• Waning Crescent phase: This phase can be seen as a thin crescent opening to the right.

These are about 8 major moon phases. Next, it’s time for us to learn about the effects of the Moon’s gravitational pulls on tides as well as the relationship between moon phases and tides.

Moon’s effects on the tides and the relationship between Moon phases and tides

Tides are the fall and the rise of ocean water levels at any given place, resulting from the Earth’s rotation on its axis as the gravity of both the sun and the moon pull on Earth and its water.

As going through the full cycle of phases, the position of the moon and its gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth and its water also change, resulting in different tide levels. That means the moon phases and tides, well, there’s a relationship between them.

When it’s a new and full moon phase, high tides reach their highest, and low tides are at their lowest. These high tides are called spring tides, appearing when the sun, the moon, and the Earth are all in a straight line. Due to the added gravity from the sun, the oceans bulge more than usual.

Opposite to spring tides is neap tides which occur during the quarter moon phases. At these phases, the moon is 90 degrees away from the sun and instead of combining the gravitational pull with the moon, the sun pulls against the moon’s pull. That results in the highest low tide and lowest high tide or also known as neap tides.

Conclusion

As you can see, the moon and its phases really affect the tides on Earth, right? That’s what we want to share with you via this article “Moon phase and tides, here are what to know about them.” Hope that this article did provide you with informative and useful information.

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