Scientific Analysis of Cree Moon Mythology

The shadows on the moon are a result of the interplay between sunlight and the moon's surface topography. As the sun illuminates the moon from different angles, the uneven terrain, such as mountains, craters, and valleys, casts shadows on the surface. In the case of the story, where Quetzalcóatl raised the rabbit to the sky and imprinted its silhouette on the moon, it can be seen as a metaphorical representation of the moon's topography interacting with sunlight. The rabbit's image serves as a symbol for the irregularities on the moon's surface that create shadows. The moon's surface is covered in impact craters caused by meteoroid collisions over billions of years. These craters vary in size, shape, and depth, creating variations in elevation across the lunar landscape. When the sun's light hits the moon at an angle, the elevated regions cast shadows onto the lower-lying areas, resulting in the formation of distinct dark patches on the moon's surface. While both the story and science acknowledge the existence of shadows on the moon. In the story, the shadows are symbolically represented by the rabbit's silhouette on the moon, while in science, they are caused by the uneven lunar topography casting shadows when illuminated by sunlight.