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Post by juju on Apr 7, 2015 23:20:49 GMT
It's midnight and I've just looked up my garden. The moon is directly ahead (east) and really big and low on the horizon, yet yesterday when I looked out before midnight it was about 45° higher up (I remember seeing it through the trees) and about 30° further south east.
I thought the moon rose? How can it now be that low? I'm sure there's an obvious explanation...
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Apr 7, 2015 23:23:28 GMT
It's just being lazy
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Post by tangent on Apr 8, 2015 0:18:12 GMT
You've had a gin and tonic?
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Post by juju on Apr 8, 2015 8:06:17 GMT
Haha. Seriously though, can anyone tell me why this would be the case? I thought the moon would be at its highest at midnight.
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Post by JoeP on Apr 8, 2015 9:41:15 GMT
A full moon would be highest at midnight (not necessarily 12:00 but 12 hours after the sun is at its highest). A full moon would rise at sunset (directly opposite the sun) and set at sunrise. But times of moonrise and moonset vary throughout the month. According to Moonrise, moonset, and moon phase in Swansea the moon rose on Monday night at 23:16 but on Sunday night it was 22:12, over an hour earlier.
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Post by tangent on Apr 8, 2015 9:51:17 GMT
Moonrise continually changes and can be at any time of day. If you look at this calculator for your own town, you'll see that moon rise gets 30 to 50 minutes later each day and occurs just as often in the day as it does at night. The reason we think of the moon rising at night is because we normally only see it at night. On a clear day, the moon can sometimes be seen high in the sky in the late morning or early afternoon but it's pale and not very noticeable because of the accompanying sunshine.
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Post by juju on Apr 8, 2015 10:35:17 GMT
Why so much daily variation? Surely the moon's orbit is constant, isn't it? I can understand it changing with the seasons, but why it's all over the place from night to night is what I can't fathom.
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Post by juju on Apr 8, 2015 11:02:37 GMT
I totally expect to have a d'oh! moment about this any minute now, BTW...
ETA: ...and how did I get to my age and never really notice it?
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Post by JoeP on Apr 8, 2015 12:54:04 GMT
Why so much daily variation? Surely the moon's orbit is constant, isn't it? I can understand it changing with the seasons, but why it's all over the place from night to night is what I can't fathom. The orbit is fixed ... but the fact that it orbits the earth is the reason why it moves from night to night! It (and the sun) only seem to move during the day because the earth rotates about its own axis once a day (and that's the definition of "day"). On top of that, the moon orbits around the earth once a month which means it's not always in the same position in the sky relative to the sun. If the earth didn't rotate (which is quite possible but would be catastrophic for conditions on the surface ), you'd see the sun in the exact same place in the sky all the time, and you'd see the moon moving slowly across the sky making a complete circuit about every 29 days, so moving about 12 degrees every 24 hours.
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Post by JoeP on Apr 8, 2015 12:54:48 GMT
ETA: ...and how did I get to my age and never really notice it? Too much artificial light. Too much living indoors. And in Britain ... too much cloud!
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Post by juju on Apr 8, 2015 13:40:17 GMT
Makes sense... and I must admit feeling rather ridiculous about this. I just never consciously noticed what a difference there was in position from one night to the next. I guess I thought it was more gradual. D'oh!
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Post by Moose on Apr 10, 2015 2:11:03 GMT
I went outside to put my bin out one night and looked up and saw what appeared to be the moon streaking across the sky in an alarming manner. I was so perturbed I nearly banged on a neighbour's door and asked them to look but instead I messaged my then boyfriend (Ian) and told him. He pointed out that it was the clouds that were moving rapidly .. not the moon
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Post by JoeP on Apr 10, 2015 8:36:49 GMT
Hahaha wot?
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Post by tangent on Apr 10, 2015 11:02:54 GMT
Wonderful
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Post by Miisa on Apr 11, 2015 10:54:44 GMT
The moon is one of the most common causes for UFO sightings/reports.
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Apr 15, 2015 22:16:13 GMT
Does that make them into IFOs?
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Post by Alvamiga on Apr 16, 2015 7:10:40 GMT
I don't think the moon counts as flying, so it's an IOO!
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Post by JoeP on Apr 16, 2015 11:44:31 GMT
MIFOs - mistakenly identified
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Post by ceptimus on Apr 20, 2015 23:47:29 GMT
Sometimes, when a solar eclipse occurs at sunrise, it's obvious that the moon and sun rise together - or set together if the eclipse is at sunset.
The moon very often rises or sets right next to the sun (about once a month of course) but we don't see it as we're looking at the unlit face of the moon which is very dark plus it's very close in the sky to a dazzling sun! Under ideal conditions when the new moon is just above the horizon and the sun is just below, this dark moon can be seen - it is lit by 'earthlight' - the light reflected from the earth.
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