Why the moon shines
Why does the moon shine? It isn’t a ball of hot, glowing gas, like the
sun. It’s a ball of cold, hard rock. How can rock give off light?
The answer to that may surprise you. The moon is like a giant mirror.
The light it sends to earth is light that is reflected from the sun.
The moon isn’t really a very good mirror. It isn’t a bit smooth and
shiny. In fact, most of the rock on the moon is rough and dark gray. It
doesn’t really reflect much sunlight. But sunlight is so bright that
even the tiny bit that is reflected from the moon makes the moon look
like a glowing ball in our sky.
Actually, earth is a mirror, too! It reflects some of the sunlight that
falls on it. And it’s a better mirror than the moon!
from, [Oh! Look at the Moon]{.smallcaps} Eliza Lee Folleri
