Moon Phase Animation

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The animation was created as an Earth Science Project. All materials, including the music, were the creation of Raymond W.
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The above animation demonstrates the different phases of the moon. The picture in picture demonstrates the view of the moon from the Earth's northern hemisphere. The opposite shading of the moon is perceived in the southern hemisphere. Spring tides occur during both the new and full moon stages. Neap tides occur during the First and Third Quarter phases.

This demonstration of the moon cycle was not produced to scale, due to limitations of the programs used. However, certain details were pursued, as outlined below:

1) Although it may not be obvious, the earth's axis is tiled 23.5 degrees in the video.
2) The rate of rotation and orbit were created to be persistent with reality. The earth was set to rotate at the speed of "1", with the moon orbiting at 1/27th of that, which was about 0.03. This is because the moon takes 27 days to complete a full cycle.
3) Contrary to many beliefs, the moon does indeed rotate. The moon takes the same time to rotate itself as it takes to orbit the earth. This results in us always viewing the same side of the moon.
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The 3D Models of the celestial bodies present in the animation were created with Google SketchUp, animated using the SketchyPhysics plugin. The accompanyinng music was created with Garageband, using a MIDI Keyboard.
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