If there a first-quarter moon on December 4th, what is the approximate date of the coming third-quarter moon?
A. December 14th
B. December 18th
C. December 25th
D. December 11th
B. December 18th
To determine the approximate date of the upcoming third-quarter moon, we need to understand the lunar phases and their intervals. The lunar cycle, which consists of all the different phases of the moon, takes approximately 29.5 days to complete.
In this case, if there is a first-quarter moon on December 4th, we can roughly estimate when the third-quarter moon would occur by counting approximately 7 to 8 days after the first quarter. This is because there are around 7 to 8 days between the first quarter and the third quarter.
Given that, we can determine the approximate date of the upcoming third-quarter moon:
- If we count 7 days after December 4th, we reach December 11th.
- If we count 8 days after December 4th, we reach December 12th.
From the given options, the closest date to December 11th or 12th is December 11th. Therefore, the approximate date of the coming third-quarter moon is D. December 11th.
To determine the approximate date of the coming third-quarter moon, we need to calculate the number of days between the first-quarter moon and the third-quarter moon.
The lunar cycle is around 29.5 days. The first quarter occurs about halfway through this cycle, which is around 14.75 days.
If there was a first-quarter moon on December 4th, we can estimate that the third-quarter moon will occur approximately 14.75 days later.
So, adding 14.75 days to December 4th, we get December 18th.
Therefore, the approximate date of the coming third-quarter moon would be B. December 18th.