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Why does the Moon change shape?

We see different amounts of its sunlit half as it circles the Earth.

Half of the Moon is always lit by the Sun. When the Moon is between us and the Sun we see the dark side: new Moon. When it's on the far side of Earth we see the whole lit face: full Moon.

In between we see a slice: crescent, quarter, gibbous. The whole cycle takes 29.5 days. It's not Earth's shadow — that only happens during a lunar eclipse.

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