Sigh..............here we go again... Moon question

Last night, at about midnight, as I do, I have a ciggy at the kitchen window and look up.
Last night the moon was VERY high in the sky.
Tonight is a WAY WAY WAY lower..

Who notices this, who brought it to my attention?
My wife. I thought "ok, il go look" and It was almost not visable it was that low.
The night before I had to strain my neck to look up to it.

Anyone see this?

Sorry to go on about the moon, but it was higher last night, WAY HIGHER than it was than tonight.

Why would this be?

Shauny

Today, at about midday, as I do, I have lunch at the kitchen table and look up out of the window.
Today the sun was VERY high in the sky.

Tonight, near sunset, is a WAY WAY WAY lower..



The sun, and moon, and stars, and planets, rise in the east, cross the sky, and set in the west.
And as the moon orbits the earth once every 28 days or so, it isnt quite in the same place each night.

reply to post by shauny


The short answer is "Declination".


Declination explained


2011 Lunar Declination Cycle

en.wikipedia.org...

i wished i never looked, now my head hurts.

Originally posted by shauny
Last night, at about midnight, as I do, I have a ciggy at the kitchen window and look up.
Last night the moon was VERY high in the sky.
Tonight is a WAY WAY WAY lower..

The view was last night, at midnight.
The post time for tonights observation is about 8:30pm.
This is much much earlier. It will take a while for the sky to rotate back to where it was at midnight.
Check it again at midnight and see if the moon is stil. "WAY WAY WAY lower..." or not.


David Grouchy

Originally posted by davidgrouchy

Originally posted by shauny
Last night, at about midnight, as I do, I have a ciggy at the kitchen window and look up.
Last night the moon was VERY high in the sky.
Tonight is a WAY WAY WAY lower..

The view was last night, at midnight.
The post time for tonights observation is about 8:30pm.
This is much much earlier. It will take a while for the sky to rotate back to where it was at midnight.
Check it again at midnight and see if the moon is stil. "WAY WAY WAY lower..." or not.

David Grouchy

It was about then, its 02:33am where I am now...
Edit: I now cant see it at all, its behind houses.
Last night it was way high in the sky.

I looked at the threads posted, but its almost half my view of the sky lower.
Isnt right.

Early in the week the moon was high in the sky around noon in broad daylight, and later in the week it was high in the sky in the middle of the night. I didn't feel a thing.

reply to post by shauny

Yes, it's right.
The Moon rises and sets around 1 hour later each night that it did the night before.

Shauny, what did you think of it's brightness? Did you find it too bright or okay?

Originally posted by simone50m
Shauny, what did you think of it's brightness? Did you find it too bright or okay?

A lot brighter.
I know the moons position changes most nights, I get that bit.
But if you look at the sky, and look at it in inches, its about 5 inches lower than what is was last night.
Is that normal?

Last night, (AGAIN) It was so high I had to strain to see it.
Tonight it was just above houses and now behind houses.

I look up, iv said it a lot, I always look up, even when im driving my wife shouts "the road, the road"
The moon is 100% lower than it should be. I am no expert however.

Someone, somewhere MUST be seeing this no?

reply to post by alfa1


Oh NO you didn't!!!
hahahaha

So, I was looking out the ol window just now. The moon is very low and yellowish. Not too bright. I guess I'll be following for a few more hours to see what it does.

reply to post by shauny

5 inches. About 15-20 degrees at an arm's length.
Yes, that's right.

About an hour later.
Yes, my moon is acting right. A great big pastel orange ball, just rising now. ]
Nice.

reply to post by shauny

It’s full moon, Shauny. Or rather, it will be today.

Stop howling now, and try to go back to sleep.

reply to post by shauny

You will find no answers here or anywhere else for that matter. Some are noticing these things, most are not and the rest are absolutely determined to make you feel stupid for saying it's strange.
Perhaps those few who see it are the lucky few who will survive to tell the tale.

Originally posted by Trublbrwing
reply to post by shauny

 

You will find no answers here or anywhere else for that matter. Some are noticing these things, most are not and the rest are absolutely determined to make you feel stupid for saying it's strange.
Perhaps those few who see it are the lucky few who will survive to tell the tale.

So are you trying to say that the moon really doesn't rise about 1 hour later every night, or that it isn't normal to do so?

For at least as long as humans have been studying the moon, it has been rising later on every successive night. Therefore, if the moon is sitting in the sky above the trees at 10:00 tonight, it will be hidden behind those same trees at 10:00 tomorrow night. This is normal.

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People

Originally posted by Trublbrwing
reply to post by shauny

 

You will find no answers here or anywhere else for that matter. Some are noticing these things, most are not and the rest are absolutely determined to make you feel stupid for saying it's strange.
Perhaps those few who see it are the lucky few who will survive to tell the tale.

So are you trying to say that the moon really doesn't rise about 1 hour later every night, or that it isn't normal to do so?

For at least as long as humans have been studying the moon, it has been rising later on every successive night. Therefore, if the moon is sitting in the sky above the trees at 10:00 tonight, it will be hidden behind those same trees at 10:00 tomorrow night. This is normal.

edit on 5/17/2011 by Soylent Green Is People because: (no reason given)

I understand how the moon changes and what causes it, what I don't understand is why there are THOUSANDS of people who say something doesn't look right.
It doesn't make any sense, there is no news coverage and no astronomers are joining in so it must be normal but my instincts say it isn't.

Our moon has an orbital period of about 28 days.
Our planet has a rotational period of about 24 hours.
So once every 24 hours (i.e. when you have a cigarette), our moon has moved 360/28 ~ 13 degrees from its previous position (East to West?).
This is a bit different to declination I think, which occurs over a much longer time frame. I'm not an astronomer and don't know all the terms but this is more like precession.

Good question btw.

Originally posted by Trublbrwing
I understand how the moon changes and what causes it, what I don't understand is why there are THOUSANDS of people who say something doesn't look right.
It doesn't make any sense, there is no news coverage and no astronomers are joining in so it must be normal but my instincts say it isn't.

There are always people (even a few here on ATS) who think it's strange that the Moon is sometimes out during the day, or people who don't understand why the crescent Moon can look like a "smiley face" when it rises, but more of a "frowny face" when it sets....
...Or, most commonly, they don't realize that the position of the Moon relative to the background stars changes every night. I have seen many threads and posts where an ATS member would say "last night the Moon was right next to Jupiter, but tonight it's not...Is something wrong?"

Basically, many people just aren't observant enough to realize these are characteristics the Moon has displayed since at least the time people began to keep track of it. So it doesn't surprise me that again there are people (just like the ones I mentioned above) who think the Moon is somehow acting differently than it has.

I -- plus a whole lot of amateur astronomers who love to look at the Moon -- see the same Moon these people are seeing. If the Moon was really acting strange, these amateur astronomers would be among the first to notice.