Can a New Moon look like a Lunar Eclipse temporarily??, page 1
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reply posted on 27-2-2009 @ 10:11 AM by Phage
reply to post by adrenochrome


I understand what you're saying. When I said an actual eclipse is faster I meant that it covers the entire Full Moon in an hour or so. It takes two weeks to go from a Full Moon to a New Moon.

I haven't caught the exact moment the Moon has turned new like you did and I didn't realize the last bit of the change would be perceptible. It makes sense that it is. I'm going to make an effort to see it.


reply posted on 27-2-2009 @ 10:28 AM by Soylent Green Is People
reply to post by adrenochrome

The new moon was on Tuesday (Feb. 24th), and last night (Thursday, Feb 26) was a "young moon". By definition a young moon will only get more visible as the moon cycle goes on. So I'm not to sure if it is really possible that you saw the sliver of moon "disappear" due to the shadow on the moon getting larger -- or even if it is possible for that shadow to be noticeably different in 10 minutes time.

A young moon can only ever be seen for an hour or two after sunset, and always low on the western horizon. I suspect that possibly as the moon was setting and you were viewing it through more of the Earth's atmosphere, the moon's light became more obscured by dust in the atmosphere as the moon set -- just like the sun's light dims as it gets closer to sunset.

In the case of a sunset, the Sun's light itself is obviously not changing -- just the amount of that light that we can see through the additional amount of atmosphere we are viewing it through. I think the same thing happened for you last night -- the Moon didn't noticeably change, but the amount of moonlight that reached your eye through the additional atmosphere DID change.


[edit on 2/27/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]


reply posted on 27-2-2009 @ 01:27 PM by adrenochrome
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


yes, technically the moon should become more visible according to the stage it's in, because it's on its way to becoming a quarter-moon within the next week. but the shadow got larger, and the moon disappeared, so i still can't explain why it appeared to resemble a total eclipse... i don't think it was the atmosphere, because i could still faintly see the silhouette of the entire moon under its own shadow; the moon didn't disappear beyond the horizon until about an hour later...

the next time there's a new moon, i'm going to be sure to view it as it's setting behind the horizon to see if it "eclipses" again...
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