This is called "the old moon in the new moon's arms" . Because you can see the part of the moon that is not illuminated by the sun. that's the "old moon'. You can see detail because sunlight reflected off the earth and onto the moon then reflects back to the earth and thus we can see the unlit part of the moon. The lighter areas are the mountains and the highlands, more rugged terrain. The darker areas are the "sea", large lave filled basins.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.That’s an interesting way to get light to parts of the moon (that don’t get sunlight) and then back to us.
yvilletom
Level 8
May 26, 2020
0
Also happens on Earth when there is a full moon. We get the reflected sunlight from the moon.