Why is the Moon sometimes visible during the day?

Asked by: Fatima, Manchester


In fact, the Moon is visible in daylight almost every day. The Earth’s daily revolution on its axis means that the Moon is actually above the horizon for about 12 hours out of every 24. Usually, some portion of that time will be during daylight – you just need to look carefully, because its brightness is so much less than the Sun’s.

The only times you won’t be able to see it during the day are near a new Moon, when it is positioned too close to the Sun in the sky to be seen, and near a full Moon, when it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, so is only visible during the hours of darkness.

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