Photos of the Moon through the World: an observational project recorded in photography about how the phases of the Moon can be compared when observed from Northern and Southern Hemispheres

The Moon brings plenty of curiosity to the earth inhabitants for being its only natural satellite. Several myths and beliefs associated to the movement of the star figure in the popular imagination, attributing to it a role that approaches to the mystic and supernatural. However, most of these myths, or alternative conceptions, are wrong and persistent, but could be questioned with the simple systematic observation of our only natural satellite. In this work, the result of a project whose objective is helping to solve one of the myths involving the phases of the Moon is presented. More specifically, it is aimed to answer the question on how the phases can be compared when observed from different points of earth Assuming that a picture is worth a thousand words, it is decided to answer this question through a photographies session on the observations of the Moon done from different latitude and longitude coordinates. The result is as expected: the Moon phase is the same for any observer in the earth, but its observed format changes depending on the latitude. As astrophotography from different points on earth is not an easy approach in classroom, it is proposed the use of the software Stellarium in order to generate the images which are the very basis of the discussions in this work.

Keywords:
Astronomy Teaching; Moon Phases; Myths about the Moon; Photography; Stellarium