ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the moon orbits the earth and how this orbit is responsible for these and many other regular and predictable changes in the moon's appearance. It shows how synchronizing the moment of the rising or setting of the full moon with the moment of sunset or sunrise can create spectacular opportunities for nightscapes but ones that may only occur once, on a single day, during a given year! The chapter discusses the ways in which solar and lunar eclipses take place. It helps us to learn about several striking phenomena that we will encounter related to the interactions of moonlight with surface and atmospheric water and ice—moon halos, moonbows, and different types of moon reflections from water. The chapter focuses on the top view perspective of the earth and moon system.
