Why do planets have phases?!!!!!?!?!?!?!?

Question

Why do planets have phases?!!!!!?!?!?!?!?

Answer 1

They only appear to have phases based on our point of view....

Answer 2

Because only one side of them can be illuminated by the sun, while the opposite side is dark.

As we see the planets from different angles, we also see the planets with different phases - we either see more of the illuminated or more of the dark side.

Not all planets have noticeable phases - the outer planets are seen mostly with the illuminated side from Earth, as the angle varies only by a few degrees.

Venus has the most noticeable phases for a planet, almost as beautiful as the phases of our moon.

Answer 3

because they orbit the sun

Answer 4

For exactly the same reason the moon has phases. Only one half of a planet is lit by the sun at any one time, and it's not necessarily the half facing Earth.

Answer 5

BCUZ OF THE SPACETIME CONTINIUM!!!!!!!....JK I DUNNO WAT DAT IS

Answer 6

Planetary phases are our way of understanding a perceiving them. We see how they exhibit characteristic aspects and phases. "Aspects" refers to the location of the planet with respect to our overhead sky reference (objects on the celestial sphere); "phases" refers to the fact that the planets, through a telescope, exhibit phases (differing amounts of lighted hemispheres as viewed from the earth). The terminology associated with these aspects and phases is different, depending on whether we refer to an inferior planet or a superior planet.