Leigh Thomas, age 11, of Euclid, Ohio

Does the far side of the moon ever get an sunshine?

The golden moon seems to change from a thin sliver to a big pumpkin and back again to a thin sliver. Actually, it did not change its shape at all. We see only that part of the moon which happens to be bathed in golden sunshine. The other part of the round ball is just too dark for us to see, One half of the moon is always bathed in sunshine and during a month we see the lunar day dawn and creep across the side of the moon which faces the world.

The earth turns on its axis, giving us a day and night every 24 hours. The moon takes about 27 earth days to turn on its axis and each lunar day lasts about two earth weeks. The same side faces us all the time, part of it in sunshine, part of it in the darkness of night. When most of our side of the moon is dark, most of the far side is lit with sunshine. For as the moon turns on its axis, it faces the sun with first one side, then the other.