Moon light cycle question

[SteveCNC]

For the purpose of measurement a day will be assumed to be 24 earth hours (for the smart alec's).

I never had a reason to think about what the daylight/night cycles were like on the surface of the moon . I have to assume they aren't the same as earth having a 24 hour day .

So question is if I were standing on a fixed spot on the equator of the moon what would my expected light cycle be ?

Would it depend on where I was on the equator ? such as facing earth or far side ?

I am guessing that the far side of the moon would give a 14 day light then 14 day dark roughly . And the earth facing side would experience a 7 day light 21 day dark given the shadow of earth waxing/waning .

 

[Captain_Salty]

direct sunlight time is equal, near or far side. the moon's phases aren't caused by the earth's shadow (if that's what you were suggesting).

 

[SteveCNC]

right , so then am I correct in thinking there would be roughly 14 days (earth time) of light and 14 days of dark for any spot minus lunar eclipses ?

 

[Captain_Salty]

AFAIK yes, the near side would get some decent earth shine too.
and from the nasa website:
Another result of the smallness of the moon's tilt is that certain large peaks near the poles are always in sunlight. In addition, the floors of some craters -- particularly near the south pole -- are always in shadow

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yes, and the earthshine would be brightest during the middle of the lunar night ("Full Earth"), which is New Moon for us.

 

[SteveCNC]

I asked because of the possibility of getting involved with a moon rover , I wonder if the earthlight would be strong enough to make a solar panel produce usable power (I am having doubts on that one) .

 

[MeteorWayne]

I doubt it. If you have a solar panel, check out the output during a full moon. Of course, the full earth would be brighter.
Still, not many photons to work with....

 

[rock_three]

The cycle is 28 days +. But then there are advantages to that. The months could be tracked eiseir. And the day can be
tracked by watching the rotation of the earth. Ofcourse, a minor correction would have to be made for the length of the
day, from watching the earth. Your clock would be slow. Ofcourse the lack of clouds on the moon would make the system
reliable.