Does the moon look extremly bright to anyone else?

reply to post by filosophia


The heat is explained by the summer. The position of the face of the moon is explained by tidal locking. The change in the position of landmarks on the face of the moon is explained by position in the sky and the tilt of the earth on its axis. The luminosity is explained by weather patterns, light pollution and atmospheric pollution.

reply to post by nataylor

You could say it is not rotating at all. Orbiting the Earth, yes. Locked by gravity, yes. Spinning? I wouldn't assume so.
If the Earths gravity failed instantly, and the moon took a trajectory away from the Earth, wouldn't the last people to see the moon see the same face of the moon as it slowly disappears into the night sky?

Hmm it did seem a little brighter recently in that to my eyes the detail was hard to fix on but not impossible (moon gaze once a night, most nights), but it is a Full moon at the moment after all and they are always bright regardless, especially when you get a proper no earth shadow full moon. The ground light seemed no different to a normal full moon for me in the Southern Hemisphere, ive seen moon light so bright you could make out decent detail well over 40-50 feet.

Ill take a look tonight if it isnt cloudy. Ive seen really bright moons before, also dont forget your local atmosphere plays alot, its very clear where i live so should be interesting. But that might also be why I havent noticed much of a difference, bright is bright after all

Hmm I better be careful of moon burn.

Originally posted by Stewie
reply to post by nataylor

 

You could say it is not rotating at all. Orbiting the Earth, yes. Locked by gravity, yes. Spinning? I wouldn't assume so.
If the Earths gravity failed instantly, and the moon took a trajectory away from the Earth, wouldn't the last people to see the moon see the same face of the moon as it slowly disappears into the night sky?

No the moon would travel in a straight line away from Earth as well as spinning rapidly on it's axis.

If you spin a ball attached to a string and string attached to a stick and cut the string it will spin in the direction the string was pulling as well as fly off in a straight line. Try it by spinning something attached to a string with your hand and let it go.

You really need to understand that the moon is rotating and so is that ball attached to the string. It is just not visible to you.

Originally posted by Stewie
reply to post by nataylor

 

You could say it is not rotating at all. Orbiting the Earth, yes. Locked by gravity, yes. Spinning? I wouldn't assume so.
If the Earths gravity failed instantly, and the moon took a trajectory away from the Earth, wouldn't the last people to see the moon see the same face of the moon as it slowly disappears into the night sky?

No, you couldn't say it's not rotating at all. If the earth were to suddenly disappear, the moon would pretty much go on orbiting the sun, making one revolution about every 29 days. The "day" on the moon would be 29 days long instead of the 24 hours we have here on earth. But it would still be spinning.

The only way to say the moon isn't spinning is if you use the moon as your frame of reference. But the same thing could be said of the earth, the sun, or any rotating body. The point is, when viewed from an external point of reference, there's no way you can't say the moon is spinning.

[edit on 26-7-2010 by nataylor]

Originally posted by Sashromi
reply to post by Stewie

 

I'm with you on this one. I do not believe the moon rotates on its OWN vertical axis. However it does revolve around the earth and rotates around the earth's vertical axis. I saw the video and its interesting, and understand the simple experiment mentioned above, but I have one of my own, to prove the moon does not rotate on its own vertical axis. It involves getting out some of your old stuff from your childhood and young adult days.

Gather an 'old fashioned' turntable; an old vinyl record you don't care about; an old fashioned plastic toy soldier on its own standup base; and some glue.

Now put the record on the turntable.

Next, glue the toy soldier onto the outer edge of the record (which is why I say take one you don't care about) facing the center post of the turntable poking through the record. Wait for the glue to dry.

Finally turn on the turntable and watch the soldier spinning around the turntable. Note that he ALWAYS faces the center post of the turntable; yet he is glued to the record so he can not be turning on his own vertical axis.

Guess what, the moon is to the earth as is the soldier to the turntable.

Your theory is flawed because the center post of the turntable and the soldier are rotating at the same speed.

The moon does not orbit around the Earth at the same speed as the Earth rotates. It takes 1 Day for the Earth to rotate once and 1 Month for the moon to orbit around the Earth. By your logic we would go through the phases of the moon in one day.

[edit on 7/26/2010 by Erasurehead]

Okay, I will try ONE more time to make my point. Then, I blame you guys.
You are holding your daughter's hands, and spinning her in a circle around you. She is orbiting you. Are you with me?
Now, imagine that instead of your daughter, you are spinning the moon around you (the moon has two arms that you are holding, and you are looking at the "face" of the moon).
Spin her around you. That is called an orbit around you.
But, SHE is NOT spinning! She is orbiting YOU.
Now, with a gravity lock, gravity is the Earth holding the moon, and spinning the moon around the Earth in an ORBIT. The moon is not spinning, but, looking down from above, like in Weedwhackers video, it APPEARS to spin.
Planets have been discovered that orbit a sun in the same way. They are gravity locked. They are not spinning, they are "tethered" much like our moon is to our Earth, but not like our Earth is to OUR sun.

reply to post by Stewie


If it "appears" to be spinning, it's spinning. That's all there is to it. If an object exhibits angular velocity from a reference frame, then that object can said be rotating. And again, the only reference frame where the moon isn't rotating is on the moon itself. If you want to say the moon isn't rotating, then you have to say the earth isn't rotating. Or, heck, my left front car tire does't rotate: the rest of the car and the entire universe rotates around it.

There is no "tether" here. Gravity and tidal forces have just had enough time to alter the angular momentum of the moon such that it matches the orbital period. This doesn't mean that the moon isn't rotating. It clearly is when, as you say, you obverse it from above. Gravity doesn't do anything special here that lets you call that rotation anything else. When viewed from a fixed point above, the moon is rotating. When viewed from any other body in the solar system, the moon is rotating.

There isn't a single real astronomer (ie, someone working in the fields of astronomy or astrophysics, who has a physics degree from an accredited university) that is going to say the moon isn't rotating.

Woah, I was just thinking last night how bright my floor was in my room. I thought it was street light then boom there's this big fluorescent sphere in the sky lol! It must be because of the sun's solar flare season, it is predicted to be very active for the next decade.

And thanks to libration, the moon doesn't keep EXACTLY the same face pointing towards earth the whole time. Because the moon's orbit is not a perfect circle, we can see hints of the rotation right here on earth. As the moon approaches the closest point to the earth, its orbit speeds up slightly, allowing us to view slightly more of one side. At its furthest point, its orbit slows down a little, allowing to view slightly more of the opposite side. This happens because the moon spins at an exactly constant rate, but the speed at which it moves through its orbit is not constant.



[edit on 26-7-2010 by nataylor]

when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. The moon will shine like the sun-Is30

two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night-Gen1.6

Originally posted by No King but Jesustwo great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night-Gen1.6

Which is kind of funny as the moon is just a reflector, and due to it's orbital period, there are some days where the moon is only visible in the daylight hours.

But that's another discusion.

Well, that'll teach me to look first. Just spent half an hour very quietly getting the telescope off the top of the unit in the bedroom, where my beloved is sleeping as she has work in a few hours, found the camera mount, went outside and some beggars nicked the moon! I swear it was there an hour ago, mind you it's 4:07am, sun will be due up soon.

reply to post by nataylor

like this?-

It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.-Zech14.7

or

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun-Rev22.5

[edit on by No King but Jesus]

reply to post by nataylor


THANKS for trying to knock some sense into 'em!!!

(I might still be on "ignore" by a certain poster, so I figured, "Why bother?")

One has only to look at Apollo Flight Journal info, and the fact that the Sun changed its angle in the sky, during the times of EVA. AND it matches exactly the rate of rotation, in degrees per minute, as all valid scientists and astronomers and just about everyone else already knows...

NOW....I am not sure of most people's ages, who are interested in this thread, but I've been riding this planet, and orbiting the Sun for enough revolutions that I have seen many, many, many variations of the Moon's brightness.

It can vary so much, just from local atmospheric conditions, for the observer...pollution, ambient light, etc.

There also is the fact that in its orbit (once every ~29-30 days, remember) it occasionally gets nearer, as it follows the ellipse path. This can co-incide with the gibbous, or "full" Moon, depending on the timing. AND, your location on the surface of the Earth.


I daresay....IF some incredible, remarkable and unexpected change of any kind in the Moon's orbital trajectory, or its distance....it would be BIG news, for it would be very, very evident. There are tons of amateur astronomers around the world.....they would be falling all over themselves to be the first to "break" such news....

Signs and wonders......................... God holds everything in his hands. At this moment he is calling us back to him gently. But he will shake the Heavens and Earth to get our attention if he needs to. Unfortunately evil forces have left a splinter of doubt within all of us. You have to pull it out to see the truth. The Devil likes to play the shell game with our minds and he will stop at nothing to turn you away from Jesus' embrace and guidance. Please remember this , the Devil tells you what you want to hear, God tells you what you need to hear. Jesus wants to give you eternal peace and serenity, and only he knows how. Remember this, God is love.................
The clock is ticking, please make a wise decision.......Peace

reply to post by SwissPort905v2


I'm in Nyc right now, a place well-known for poor views of the night sky... too much light blanks out the stars. anywho, I'm trying to look at the moon right now but it kinda hurts my eyes, not unlike the way the sun does... its hard to focus on, can't make out the major features. really really bright folks! not making it up! swear!

I think there is going to be another thunder moon tonight


The sun today was crazy, it turned the sky and our ramps (at our international airport) a purply tinge all day, and when i took a picture of the sun, well #kken hell, i'll show an example of a normal day, and todays once i upload them

Ive stated this a couple times but Im sure everyone does not read all the posts.

Tonight its actually full....so tonight's is likely better even then last nights.

Im not abnormal for a moon to look so bright...in just a couple days the moon will be at its closest position to Earth for this month...full moons during this period are more bright to us. Next month the moon will be at its farthest position during full moon and we all will likely notice a difference between the two.

But again, tonight is the actual night for the 'full moon'....its seems many thought it was last night.

To cloudy here...I cant get a glimpse of it. It will set sometime in the middle of the night in the west.

Hope many others got to see it tonight though...in its true fullness.

I have been noticing this too lately, especially since this summer began. I remarked to someone last week that it almost seemed like it was being projected. Brighter and larger than ever!

Project Blue Beam to cover up some real action going on with the lunar surface?