Does the moon reflect light from the Earth, so we can see it, or is that light from the Sun?

Question

Does the moon reflect light from the Earth, so we can see it, or is that light from the Sun?

Answer 1

the sun

Answer 2

Yes, the moon reflects light from the Earth.  When the moon is new, it is about 1/10 as bright as when it is full.  That light comes from sunlight reflected off the Earth.  Also, the new moon is in the day sky, so it is harder to see.

Answer 3

Most of the light the Moon reflects is from the sun.  

BUT...

It does reflect a little light that reflects off the Earth.  When the Moon is in it's 'new' phase, what you'll see is the Moon in a very slim cressent shape, low in the west, just after sun set.  You might also be able to faintly see the rest of the Moon.  

This is called Earth Shine.  So, the Moon does reflect some light from the Earth but the Earth does not produce it's own light.  Some of the sun light bounces off the Earth and hits the Moon.

Answer 4

It only reflects light from Jupiter.

Of course it reflects both.

Answer 5

The light is from the sun.

Answer 6

The moon appears as a relatively bright object in the sky, in spite of its low albedo. The Moon is about the poorest reflector in the solar system and reflects only about 7% of the light incident upon it (about the same proportion as is reflected by a lump of coal).[60] Color constancy in the visual system recalibrates the relations between the colours of an object and its surroundings, and since the surrounding sky is comparatively dark the sunlit Moon is perceived as a bright object.

Answer 7

The moon reflects the light from the sun or shines on the moon thats why at night u can see the moon shining.

Answer 8

sun

Answer 9

the moon is reflectin light from the sun.

Answer 10

The earth doesn't produce any light so all reflected light comes from the sun.

Answer 11

it reflects light from the sun!!!

Answer 12

When you see the brightness of the moon, particularly when it's full, it's reflected sunlight.

When it's partially full, and you can just make out the dark side, the dark part is lit by reflected light from the Earth (called Earthshine).

Answer 13

It's from the Sun. I don't think the Earth could reflect light onto the Moon because the Moon would be lit by the Sun at the same time...

Answer 14

Well, if you want to get technical, the Earth reflects sunlight.  So the light from the moon would be sunlight.

Answer 15

Both the Earth and the Moon reflect light from the Sun.  The Sun is the light source for our Solar System.

Answer 16

good shot of Earthshine!...

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moo...

but the majority, of course, is light from the Sun....

Answer 17

wow, 15 answers and only 'Someone Else' mentioned "Earthshine"...the light you see when you look at the moon is mostly light that has been reflected from the sun.  But, even with its' low albedo of about 7% (albedo is a big word for how reflective it is) , the moon still reflects enough light to the earth for us to see.  And, if conditions are right, some light can reflect off the earth back to the moon and we see that as 'earthshine'...

Mostly earthshine is observed when the moon is in a phase just before first 1/4 or just after last 1/4, so there's plenty of moon that isn't lit directly by the sun.

Answer 18

Light that emanates form the moon originated from the sun. It is only reflected by the lunar surface giving it a shining and glowing appearance

Answer 19

it is generally accepted that the sun is the source of light. if you are wondering if the magnetic field of the earth could reflect the solar radiation out and toward the moon (like the aurora lights) i don't know. seems more possible than alot of things i hear.

Answer 20

this is an answer from an earlier question, hope it helped!

"The sun strikes both the moon and the earth. The sun shines on the moon directly, but when the moon is in the right position, between the earth and the sun, the moon also gets a reflection of some of the sunlight that hits the earth. This is why when the moon is really new, when it looks like just a fingernail clipping, you can kind of see the rest of it."

we also know that the earth reflects light becuase we would not be able to see the eath in pictures from space if it didn't.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_the_earth...

Answer 21

From the sun..

As we know, moon rotates round the earth.. N earth rotates round the sun..

So sometimes we can see the full moon.. N sometimes we don't sea the moon..

Answer 22

Both.

The sun lights up the moon brightly. However, when the moon's dark side is facing us we can see it faintly because the sunlight that is reflected from Earth lights the moon slightly.

Answer 23

Technically both but the amount from the sun is far higher

Answer 24

The sun reflects off the moon so thats why we see it but we only see one side of the moon.

Answer 25

I thought it only reflects from the sun....Earth does'nt  receive light from Mars.

Answer 26

I gues s the light reflects from the closest planet to earth so we can see it.

Answer 27

From the SUN the earth is not a source of light it does not glow like stars.  All the stars including our SUn are hot gasses and are the light sources for their systems (Solar system in our case)

Hope this helps

Answer 28

Since there is light to reflect, it can only come from the sun.  The lights from the earth that we generate are not powerful enough to reflect off of the moon and make it shine that brightly.

Answer 29

light from the sun

Answer 30

At night, the moon covers the sun, so the sun is actually giving light to the moon.

Answer 31

The Sun. When you see the moon at night it's on the dark side of Earth.