Dquestion 2 5 pts why does the moon's orbital period (27.3 days) differ from its phase period (29.5 days)? o earth o the mo rotates on its axis every 24 hours, so the moon is constantly falling behind earth's rotation on's orbit is elliptical, so the moon takes longer to complete its phase period than it would in a circular orbit. o in the time it takes the moon to complete one orbit of earth, earth has moved in its orbit around the sun o the sun's gravity slows the moon down when the moon comes between earth and the sun. 4 previous next »