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Phases of the Moon.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

  1. If you see the moon between mid-day and midnight, it must be waxing. If you see it in the a.m. hours, it must be waning.

  2. To an observer in the Northern Hemisphere, the moon appears to orbit (or "bounce," roughly speaking) around the earth in a counterclockwise orbit (in a lunar month). In the Southern Hemisphere, clockwise.

Picture yourself floating in space, somewhere above the North Pole, so you can always see the sun and the moon, and you don't experience day and night. In the course of the lunar month, the moon will orbit from a position between the earth and sun (new moon), around to the "backside" of the earth (earth between moon and sun - full moon), and back around to the start position.

Now when you go back down to earth, you will see the moon only at certain times of day or night, because at other times, it will be on the other side of the earth, out of your sight.

Hopefully, that clarifies what I'm trying to get at.

#earth #moon
nicestuff 7 Jan 20
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0

Level 7

REVISED assertion. Since posting the above, I drew a diagram, thought about it, and discussed it with someone. Yes, moonrise and moonset are correlated to the phase of the moon. But now I'd say #1 is wrong.

#2 is correct, I think. Viewed from the North Pole, the moon orbits the earth counterclockwise, which happens to be the same direction as the earth's spin.

I'd revise #1 to say:

a 3rd Quarter moon will be visible only in the a.m. hours (solar time)
a 1st Quarter moon will be visible only in the p.m. hours
a full moon will be visible only between sunset and sunrise.

(This applies in temperate and tropical zones, not necessarily in polar zones.)

nicestuff Level 7 Jan 25, 2021
1

Level 9

Thanks for posting! I have been busy and have not posted in forever! Too answer, I have never looked.

Hathacat Level 9 Jan 23, 2021
1

Level 8

Kinda looks like it, mean solar time naturally since time zones and DST would mess it up. I think that since the full moon occurs at midnight that would be the divider
[timeanddate.com]

Buttercup Level 8 Jan 20, 2021
0

Level 8

Time of day means nothing, it's about the progress of shadow across the face of the lunar surface.
Waxing means it's getting less shadow (progressing toward fuller). Waning means it's becoming less and less full (progressing toward new moon or all dark).

Thanks. Yes, I know. Do you ever see a waxing moon in the a.m. hours? Or a waning moon in the p.m. hours? I don't think so, but I wanted to confirm. (Granted, small time zone variations may mean the boundary times are not exactly noon and midnight, but more or less a.m. versus p.m.)

To clarify, I wasn't asking about the definition of waxing and waning, but about the times of day when the moon is visible - as related to whether it's waxing or waning. I.e., when it's waxing, you will never see it in the a.m., only in the p.m. And vice versa for waning.

@nicestuff Not certain I just use an app. maybe if I ever needed to.
Honestly I only use the app to find planets.
To me the Moon is at best pretty and at worst a source of light pollution.

@Willow_Wisp
Sorry. I clarified the original post after this thread.
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