Moon clouds. The illuminated area of the visible sphere (degree of illumination) is given by formula_3, where formula_4 is the elongation (i.e., the angle between Moon, the observer (on Earth) and the Sun). The gravitational attraction that masses have for one another decreases inversely with the square of the distance of those masses from each other. As a result, the slightly greater attraction that the Moon has for the side of Earth closest to the Moon, as compared to the part of the Earth opposite the Moon, results in tidal forces. Tidal forces affect both the Earth's crust and oceans. The
Sun and Moon (Middle-earth) and 'died': the Sun after this for a while left its course, burning a large part of Arda the world (apparently creating the deserts of Far Harad). In writings which are older than the material from which the published "Silmarillion" was drawn, the Moon was described at one point as being created by Morgoth as a mockery of Arda the world, but this notion was abandoned. In the Round World version of the legendarium, the Sun and the Moon were not the fruit of the Two Trees, but actually preceded the creation of the Trees. Instead, the Trees preserved the