Creation Day 4 God reveals His "heavenly clocks" in the night and day sky Adjustment #1 - The Moon: God's Act of Synchronized Perfection A major purpose for God creating the moon was to light up the night sky . The moon reflects the sun’s light on to us even when the sun is on the other side of the earth. The amount of reflected light depends on the moon’s surface area, so we are fortunate to have a moon that is so large. It is over a quarter of Earth’s diameter—far larger in comparison to moons of other planet s in the solar system. Also, if it were much smaller, it would not have enough gravity to maintain its perfect synchronized orbit. 15 8
It’s often said that this classic photo, taken by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969, depicts an Earth-rise as seen from the moon, but that's not true. If you lived on the side of the moon facing Earth, you would see Earth go through phases just as we see phases of the moon, however, the Earth doesn’t rise or set. The earth would stay same place in the sky. How is that possible you might ask? The answer is simple. The moon rotates exactly once every time it circles the Earth. In other words, God perfectly synchronized the moon's rotation (360 o turn) on it s axis and its monthly revolution around the Earth to be exactly 27.322 days.
Carefully watch the animations above showing the moon revolving in a synchronous orbit around the earth. Answer the following four questions. • How do your know the moon is rotating as it revolves around the Earth? • Why do we only see the near side and not the far side of the moon? • Why can't we ever see the far side of the moon ? • What does it mean that the moon's rotation and revolution are synchronized ?
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