Could someone please explain my question regarding the Moon's behaviour? Thanks.

I enjoy looking at the Moon through a telescope. I know little or next to nothing about the Moon, Stars, Planets etc - but I enjoy seeing the Moon through a telescope and periodically get the telescope out on my porch to do so.

Two nights ago (10th here in Australia) I set up the telescope and there was only about 1/4 of the moon visible in a crescent shape but I watched it for an hour or so. I decided I'd do it again when there was more of the moon to see. Next night (11th) there was slightly more of the moon lit up but not enough to justify setting up the telescope. Next night (12th) there was almost one half of the Moon lit up (left side of the moon from here in Oz) and I seriously toyed with the idea of getting the telescope out but again there just wasn't enough to justify it. Later on the SAME evening I was outside again when I realised that the Moon was no longer lit up on the left hand side - it was now more the lower half which was lit up. Now this was only two or three hours after I had observed the left hand side lit up - I had no idea that the moon changes on the SAME NIGHT? Can anyone verify this for me please? I know it sounds stupid but I have never ever seen this happen before.

Thanks in advance.

Oz

I can honestly say that the moon has been doing some strange things lately. I haven't found anything yet that I can contribute to this.

Sounds kinda strange, I look forward to someone's valid explanation!

Oh what happened now? Did it disappear? Or maybe the black dot is not where it's supposed to be!?

Where you eating some of those funny bun's, you know the one's with ganja in them??

I'm right there with you. I've been watching the moon lately and have been noting wildly erratic and varying moonrise times, inconsistent phases of the moon, and several other less noticeable peculiarities that I have never before noticed in my short 31 years of living. Not to mention weather and other things that are not normal to my life experience so far.

Originally posted by DarthPhobos
Where you eating some of those funny bun's, you know the one's with ganja in them??

Given that I'm a 51 year old father of 4 children, Author and Masters graduate (ie what would be typically defined as 'pillar of the community' stuff) I doubt that description would sit well on me.

I know what I saw - and there may well be a perfectly good scientific explanation - it's just that I haven't encountered this phenomena before. If all you have to contribute to the question is disparaging remarks re the posters character I would suggest your analytical skills would be best served on another thread - maybe one dealing with holes in the brain caused by over indulgence in mind altering substances.

Oz

The moon takes 2 weeks to go from new to full, only clouds in the way can change that, visually.
The animation below is a span of almost 28 days, repeated. That's simply not going to change.

Thank you Illustronic, much appreciated - you just confirmed what I feared. This is Australia - where the sky last night was cloudless and brilliant. At approx 6pm I observed an almost half moon (left side) - at approx 8:30pm the angle of the lit portion had changed dramatically - on a clock face the area now lit up would be from 4 to 10. Fortunately someone else witnessed it with me ensuring I wasn't mad. I also took the trouble of going inside and telling my wife but again - I honestly believed this was some sort of well known phenomena explained rationally by lunar phases I don't understand. If you're saying it's not - then there's a very real issue at the heart of this.

I saw the Moon do that last night - and for the life of me I cannot explain why.

Oz

I have photographed the Moon almost every day since last Friday (I think I missed a day) and I haven't seen anything like that.

Originally posted by ArMaP
I have photographed the Moon almost every day since last Friday (I think I missed a day) and I haven't seen anything like that.

I can understand why it seems so strange ArMap - initially I put it down to having something to do with my location - Australia. I figured that maybe some lunar phase occurs which sees it change in a few hours due to our position here. But if that's not the case then what on Earth did I see happening last night? There's no ambiguity in what I saw - no vagueness - I absolutely saw the lit portion change dramatically in just under three hours or so.

I'm still sitting here thinking there must be a valid scientific explanation but as of yet I don't appear to have found one. Incidentally the Gif above which shows the Moon revolving doesn't appear to show the 'Lower Half Moon' which we get here in Oz - I believe the Northern Hemisphere gets the top half of the moon lit up sometimes whereas we get the lower half lit up down here. I'm just curious as to why it doesn't appear on that Gif?

I'm as confused as anyone else by last nights events - I have no explanation - I don't even have and idea to assist in explaining it - other than that is explainable and probably normal - but no one appears able to confirm that which leaves me incredibly confused.

Oz

sorry for being lazy and not having any links, but there was a thread on the exact same thing less than a week ago. the general opinion was that its perfectly normal, ive not seen it myself but have seen photos of it.

A careful observer will certainly notice that over the period of months, the crescent of the Moon does indeed seem to go from being lit on the "bottom" of the Moon to being lit on the side of the Moon. So what is happening to make the Moon look different? It is all a result of the Moon's orbit around the Earth, and the Earth's orbit around the Sun. And exactly when you see the Moon in the shape of a 'U' (lit on the bottom) rather than a backward 'C' (lit on the side) depends on what latitude you are at. But the explanation is the same regardless of when you see it from your location.

[url=http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question43.html]http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question43.html[/ url]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/556e6a69e029.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by Ozscot


Hi, I been talking about the same thing since November. The moons line of shadow rotates clockwise through the day and night. Has done every day since November and still to this day. I have watched timelapse videos of the moon from earlier dates of the moon rising and travelling across the sky and it does not do this. In the past, if there is a half moon rising on the horizon with the line of shadow in the vertical position, the moons line of shadow will stay in the same vertical position through the whole night until it sets.

Originally posted by Ozscot
Thank you Illustronic, much appreciated - you just confirmed what I feared. This is Australia - where the sky last night was cloudless and brilliant. At approx 6pm I observed an almost half moon (left side) - at approx 8:30pm the angle of the lit portion had changed dramatically - on a clock face the area now lit up would be from 4 to 10. Fortunately someone else witnessed it with me ensuring I wasn't mad. I also took the trouble of going inside and telling my wife but again - I honestly believed this was some sort of well known phenomena explained rationally by lunar phases I don't understand. If you're saying it's not - then there's a very real issue at the heart of this.

I saw the Moon do that last night - and for the life of me I cannot explain why.

Oz

Uh, it sounds to me like you're just freaking out over the moon moving through the sky.

reply to post by neonitus


Neonitus - Thanks for that and I understand what's being said there - but unfortunately that covers a span of months which I realise causes differences in the Moon's appearance. This however occurred in a span of three hours.



Oz

reply to post by NyxOne


Not sure where you get the 'freaking out' from? All I want is a rational answer to a rational question. Is it normal or abnormal?

As Dinoman has pointed out - it shouldn't happen in that time span.

Oz

reply to post by Ozscot


I've flagged your post for one reason only - because thanks to your time and efforts as a member here, I have often been shown the route to take towards finding out many leads towards the 'truth', by nothing more than following and taking in your insightful and consistantly eloquent posts and discussions when I've been fortunate to come across them - my thanks for all your unintentional assistance.

As someone who, in the real world, is an uncannily good judge of character, as is attested to by those who know me, I would state with a large degree of personal certainty that you are not a troll, agent provovateur or attempting to deliberately misguide or fool other members via this thread. If you are, then credit where it's due for being the best one of those to ever to grace the internet and fool me!

To put it frankly, I fully believe you believe what you state here you saw.

I am only sorry I cannot add anything of real worth to assist in alleviating any possible concerns you may have with regards to this incident.
Indeed, what could possibly cause the wax of the Moon to be reversed or altered temporarily and in so short a timespan!?? It doesn't seem humanly possible from what portions I know of all the science involved.

I've been watching the moon with my telescope every night since the 6th and I haven't seen anything like that. I actually like to look at the moon when it's partially lit or otherwise not full, it does get real bright the fuller it becomes I'm usually up til early in the a.m. and I walk my dogs frequently throughout the night, I always take time to observe the moon and the sky.

I haven't seen anything remotely resembling what you have described over the past week.

reply to post by OptimisticPessimist


Thank you that was very kind. You know it struck me this morning that what I saw does not necessarily indicate anything wrong with the moon - it might indicate something wrong with the Sun. The light from the moon is determined by the Sun and although I witnessed this phenomena on the Moon - the Sun could be the cause, not the Moon. But unfortunately, just like your good self, I have no answers, I don't know enough about the subject to do anything other than speculate and report my observation.

Oz

I always get out to observe the moon when it begins its waxing phase. It's more pleasant to observe when it's not at blinding full power, and I don't like using the moon filter, it dims the view too much.

I've been viewing the moon for at least 30 minutes every night since New, and the only unusual activity I've noticed is 2 straight nights of "earthshine" last week, in which the moon was only at cresent, but you could see the entire surface, weakly illuminated by reflected light from the Earth.

Over the course of a few hours, I've many times observed the lit portion of the moon seem to move from the bottom to the side, but it was just due to the change of the moon's position in the sky from my perspective.