Pedro, Luna, and the Moon

Pedro zigzagged around Great-Aunt Luisa’s dark front yard, holding his phone up. He was trying to get a stronger signal. Great-Aunt Luisa lived in the countryside, where there wasn’t much to do. Pedro was staying with her for a whole month. " Are you taking pictures of the moon?” a voice called.

Pedro spotted a girl in a neighbor’s yard. " No. I was just trying to get a signal. ” He glanced upward. The nearly full moon looked much brighter than it looked at home in the city. The girl smiled. “ I’m Luna. Want to take a look through my telescope?” " Sure. ” Pedro walked over to where Luna had set up her telescope. " I’ve never seen the moon through a telescope before. ”

" One day I’d like to see it up close. ” Luna’s eyes shone. " My dream is to become an astronaut and explore the moon. ” " You sure like the moon a lot. Is it because your name means ‘moon’ in Spanish?” Pedro asked teasingly. Luna grinned. “ It could be. Hey! There’s a full moon tomorrow. Want to watch it with me?”

Pedro smiled. “ Definitely! ” The next night Pedro met Luna in her yard. " The moon is a different shape tonight, ” he said. Luna giggled. “ The moon doesn’t really change shape, you know.

The sun lights up the moon’s surface. As the moon orbits around Earth, the amount of the sunlit surface we can see changes. These changes are the phases of the moon. ” " Aha, ” Pedro said. “ How long does it take for the moon to orbit Earth?” " About four weeks—one lunar month, ” Luna said.

" Oh. Is tonight the start of a lunar month?” " Nope! The full moon is halfway through a lunar month, ” Luna explained. " The new moon is the start of a lunar month. But it’s a confusing name. ” " Why?” Pedro asked. “ Because that’s when the unlit surface of the moon is facing Earth. We can’t see the moon then. ”