{ "model": { "rank": 4028, "code": "thing-q26388", "model_id": "vr.tr.phase-of-the-moon", "name": "phase of the moon", "purpose": "Let an agent handle Moon phases by name, timing, cause and uses, with computed dates from reliable almanacs.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.TME", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q26388/", "tier": 2, "score": 79, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "half moon", "crescent moon", "gibbous moon", "waning moon", "waxing moon", "waxing crescent moon", "waxing gibbous moon", "waning gibbous moon" ], "aliasCount": 8, "merged": 8, "knownIn": 79, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.phase-of-the-moon", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q26388", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26388", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T08:36:00Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q26388", "registryId": "vr.tr.phase-of-the-moon", "name": "phase of the moon", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.TME" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q26388/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.phase-of-the-moon", "name": "phase of the moon", "purpose": "Let an agent handle Moon phases by name, timing, cause and uses, with computed dates from reliable almanacs.", "definition": "The shape of the Moon illuminated portion as seen from Earth, changing through a cycle of about 29.5 days (the synodic month): new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter and waning crescent.", "what_it_is_for": "Timekeeping, calendars, observation, tides and cultural observances.", "affordances": [ "find dates of phases", "explain why phases occur", "plan observation around moonlight", "compute lunar calendar dates" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Caused by changing Sun-Earth-Moon geometry", "Regular cycle", "Not caused by Earth shadow (except eclipses)", "Used by lunar calendars" ], "appearance": "The Moon appearing as a crescent, half, gibbous or full disc.", "visual_identification": [ "Named phases", "Waxing versus waning direction", "Appearance differs by hemisphere" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "synodic month", "typical_range": "about 29.53", "unit": "days", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "new moon", "crescent phases", "quarter phases", "gibbous phases", "full moon" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "planetary phase", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a phase of", "target": "Moon", "why": "body" }, { "relation": "defines", "target": "lunar month", "why": "calendar" }, { "relation": "influences", "target": "tides", "why": "with the Sun" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "almanac time", "value_or_pattern": "UTC time of phase", "note": "ephemerides" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Astronomical almanacs" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Believing Earth shadow causes phases", "Time zone errors for phase dates", "Unsupported claims about lunar effects on health" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "phase", "name": "Phase", "description": "Which phase.", "rationale": "Phases follow a cycle.", "layers": [ { "id": "name", "name": "Name", "description": "Phase name.", "findings": [ { "id": "name-finding", "name": "Name", "description": "Phase name.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which phase is the Moon in now?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "What fraction is illuminated?", "kind": "measurement" } ] } ] }, { "id": "timing", "name": "Timing", "description": "Dates.", "findings": [ { "id": "timing-finding", "name": "Timing", "description": "Timing.", "questions": [ { "text": "When is the next full or new moon, in which time zone?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "From which almanac?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "cause", "name": "Cause", "description": "Why phases occur.", "rationale": "Geometry explains phases.", "layers": [ { "id": "geometry", "name": "Geometry", "description": "Sun, Earth, Moon.", "findings": [ { "id": "geometry-finding", "name": "Geometry", "description": "Cause.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do phases occur?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Why is it not Earth shadow?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "hemisphere", "name": "Hemisphere", "description": "Orientation.", "findings": [ { "id": "hemisphere-finding", "name": "Hemisphere", "description": "Hemisphere differences.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does the view differ between hemispheres?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which way does the crescent face?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "uses", "name": "Uses", "description": "Calendars and tides.", "rationale": "Phases are used widely.", "layers": [ { "id": "calendars", "name": "Calendars", "description": "Lunar months.", "findings": [ { "id": "calendars-finding", "name": "Calendars", "description": "Calendars.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do lunar calendars use phases?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which holidays depend on them?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "tides", "name": "Tides", "description": "Spring and neap.", "findings": [ { "id": "tides-finding", "name": "Tides", "description": "Tides.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do phases relate to spring and neap tides?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Where are local tide tables?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observing", "name": "Observing", "description": "Moonwatching.", "rationale": "Phases affect observing.", "layers": [ { "id": "viewing", "name": "Viewing", "description": "Best times.", "findings": [ { "id": "viewing-finding", "name": "Viewing", "description": "Viewing.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which phase is best for viewing lunar features?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "When does moonlight hinder stargazing?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "claims", "name": "Claims", "description": "Folklore.", "findings": [ { "id": "claims-finding", "name": "Claims", "description": "Folklore and claims.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is a claimed lunar effect on behaviour or health supported by evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which studies?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each phase be a separate entry?", "How should ephemeris sources be linked?", "How should folk names be recorded?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a phase of the moon, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent handle Moon phases by name, timing, cause and uses, with computed dates from reliable almanacs.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: half moon, crescent moon, gibbous moon, waning moon, waxing moon, waxing crescent moon, waxing gibbous moon, waning gibbous moon.", "8 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 79 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a phase of the moon, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "half moon", "crescent moon", "gibbous moon", "waning moon", "waxing moon", "waxing crescent moon", "waxing gibbous moon", "waning gibbous moon" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 79 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 8 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one phase of the moon from another, and a phase of the moon from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a phase of the moon sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a phase of the moon from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a phase of the moon passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a phase of the moon between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a phase of the moon, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a phase of the moon is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What phase of the moon is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of phase of the moon are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is phase of the moon operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of phase of the moon and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of phase of the moon?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as phase of the moon?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a phase of the moon came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a phase of the moon and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a phase of the moon is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a phase of the moon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a phase of the moon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a phase of the moon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }