• Question: Why does the moon appear in the daytime?

    Asked by anon-193415 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 11 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 11 Nov 2018:

      Two things contribute to the moon being visible in daylight. First, it is bright enough that its light penetrates the scattered blue light of the sky. If you’re looking at exactly the right spot with a telescope, you can also see the planets Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter in daylight, plus a few of the brightest stars (though few casual observers can actually pull this off). Secondly, the moon must be high enough in the sky to be visible.
      See more here:https://www.space.com/7267-moon-daylight.html

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      Whether or not we can see the moon during the day depends on two things:
      1) the brightness of its light – which is really just the sun’s light reflecting off the moon’s surface.
      2) the Earth’s rotation – for the moon to be visible in the sky, it needs to be above the horizon.

      On average, the moon is above the horizon for about 12 hours per day, some of those 12 hours coincide with the hours that the sun is out (i.e. day light hours), so that’s when we see a daytime moon.

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