A Conversation for Hecate - the Invisible Queen of the Night
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Sea Change Started conversation Sep 18, 2001
The new moon is not reflecting sunlight except in a metaphorical sense. This metaphor is not how we are actually able to see the moon. We see the dimly lit new moon as a real object. The moon does not have an atmosphere, and so there is no appreciable refraction from its daylit side.
It is reflecting Earth-light!
Now, methaphorically, earthlight does come originally from Sol. The sun's light refracts in our planet's atmosphere, radiates to the moon from the Earth and strikes the new moon, and we see its re-reflection.
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