Animation of the Moon磗 orbit around Earth, with the phase seen at upper left. The concentric rings mark out 100,000_kilometre increments from Earth. The Moon磗 orbit is elliptical rather than circular, and its distance from Earth varies from around 362,600 kilometres at its closest perigee, open circle at bottom to some 405,400 kilometres at its furthest apogee, closed circle at top. The Moon takes just less than 28 days to complete one orbit. The phase of the Moon depends on the angle between the Sun, Earth and Moon, as seen. The Sun is out of frame at the bottom in this animation.