They start at a the beginning of the lunar cycle, and reach full illumination on the 12th day of the month. After the point of the Full Moon, the Grand Rapids March curve drops lower than that of the Eastern Standard Time March curve. Grand Rapids reaches the New Moon on the 27th of the month, while the regular reaches it on the 28th. A major difference between these two curves and equations is that the Grand Rapids data only includes the even dates of the month, meaning it has half the amount of data that regular March does. This changes the period, therefore changing the B value of the equation. Also, in the regular March data there are two days of 100% illumination, but because of only using the even days for the Grand Rapids data, there is only one day of full illumination, affecting the C value of the equations. There is a 0.5 difference in the C values of these two …show more content…
In both graphs, we can not see into the previous month, but is easy to assume that the minimum of the previous cosine cycle only a day or two before the beginning of the graphed months. This follows the pattern of the graphs and the lunar cycles, as the moon is at an assumed 0% illumination, the New Moon phase, before the beginning of the month, and again at the 28th day in each cycle, again reaching the New Moon phase, and putting the complete lunar cycle at around 29.5 days. The calendar system we utilize has eight parts, four major and four intermediate. The phase process starts at New Moon, then to Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning Crescent, then back to the beginning of the process. From the data collected, it shows that the first full moon of this semester occurred on January 12th, 2017. Since the lunar cycle is just shy of the length of most months, there is a full moon twice a month about every 2.7 years. Based on this information, the next blue moon should occur on January 31st, 2018. The next Waxing Gibbous we will be able to see will be on March 7th, 2017. Before the Waxing Gibbous, and the First Quarter, is the Waxing Crescent, which holds significant value in certain cultures. When the moon is in the Waxing Crescent phase, and is at 8%, it marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar