The short, nonsense rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle” might be the most recognizable nursery rhyme of them all. It even gave birth to a common phrase—”over the moon”—which is part of the rhyme, as we’ll see ...

What does a children’s nursery rhyme and astronomy have in common? Plenty, and the former is quite helpful in understanding one aspect of the latter: the moon’s phases. Everyone is familiar with the ...