Throughout this lesson, you will investigate how the relative positions and motions of the Moon, the Sun, and Earth affect how the Moon looks to a person on Earth.

This simulation shows two different perspectives, or views, of the Moon. One section shows the Sun–Earth–Moon system from overhead, as if you were in space above Earth’s North Pole. The other section shows what the sky looks like to a person located on Earth who is standing where the stick figure is on the globe.