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The moon orbits the earth in a little under 28 earth days. It travels at almost 2,290 miles per hour. Coincidentally, the moon's rotation period is also a little under 28 days, meaning the same face points toward the earth during its entire orbit.
As the Sun sets, the Moon rises with the side that faces Earth fully exposed to sunlight (5).The Moon has phases because it orbits Earth, which causes the portion we see illuminated to change. The Moon takes 27.3 days to orbit Earth, but the lunar phase cycle (from new Moon to new Moon) is 29.5 days. The Moon spends the extra 2.2 days catching up because Earth travels about 45 million miles around the Sun during the time the Moon completes one orbit around Earth. At the new Moon phase, the Moon is so close to the Sun in the sky that none of the side facing Earth is illuminated (position 1 in illustration). In other words, the Moon is between Earth and Sun. At first quarter, the half-lit Moon is highest in the sky at sunset, then sets about six hours later (3).