its a half moon, but its bulging. instead of curving inward its curving outward. is that normal?
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Yes, it is a perfectly normal slightly gibbous Moon, about two days short of Last Quarter. That's what "gibbous" means: terminator curving outward.
I hope you aren't one of those people, pretty common on Yahoo!Answers, who hold the mistaken belief that the Moon's phases are caused by the shadow of Earth falling on the Moon. Anybody who knows that the phases are really caused by the angle of the sunlight falling on the Moon will have no problem understanding a convex terminator, Try holding a ball up in the sky next to the Moon and you'll see it shows exactly the same gibbous phase.
I hope you aren't one of those people, pretty common on Yahoo!Answers, who hold the mistaken belief that the Moon's phases are caused by the shadow of Earth falling on the Moon. Anybody who knows that the phases are really caused by the angle of the sunlight falling on the Moon will have no problem understanding a convex terminator, Try holding a ball up in the sky next to the Moon and you'll see it shows exactly the same gibbous phase.
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What's interesting is how so many people (you're not the only one!) are unfamiliar with the Moon phases that they get upset when the Moon doesn't look like it does in cartoons.
Look to the Moon 29 days from now, and you'll see pretty much the same thing.
Look to the Moon 29 days from now, and you'll see pretty much the same thing.
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It's fine. the moon is waning towards new. Happens each and every cycle. Last week, it was waxing towards full.
http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon
http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon
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It is entirely normal.