How fast does the moon move through the night sky?

My fiancee was standing in our room last night looking at a a crescent moon in the sky. she told me to come and check it out because it looked like a Cheshire Cat smile. So I go up to see what it looked like, and indeed it did look like a Cheshire Car smiling. Now here is where I got a little confused.

When I got upstairs, the moon was still reasonably high in the night sky, however, as I sat there within a minute or two, it had droped fast and disappeared behind the Rockies, no more moon for th rest of the night. Mind you this was at about 9:30. We both looked at each other remarked at how fast that just happened.

My question is, does anyone know how fast the moon is supposed to move through the night sky? It just seems that the moon shouldnt be gone for the night at 9:30. Shouldnt it be up for longer? And why did it seem to move so fast?

Any thoughts or ideas?

reply to post by Don Wahn


What time did the moon rise?

It is possible that it occured during the day and its wasn't that visible to you then, hence it wouldn't stay around that long during the evening. Maybe google search for moon phases or moon rise and set times in your area

Actually, it is the Earth that is turning that makes the Moon appear to move. As the moon approaches the horizon it seems to speed up, but that is just an optical illusion. The Earth turns once every 24 hours.

The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 25,000 miles. The Earth rotates in about 24 hours. Therefore, if you were to hang above the surface of the Earth at the equator without moving, you would see 25,000 miles pass by in 24 hours, at a speed of 25000/24 or just over 1000 miles per hour.

Multiply by cosine of your latitude to see how fast the Earth is rotating where you are.

Go out on any night and take a look at the moon. Position yourself so that there is an object between yourself and the moon so that it lines up with the moons edge. A street pole or similar object will do nicely. You will be amazed at how fast the Moon will move in relation to the pole.

Originally posted by Don WahnMy question is, does anyone know how fast the moon is supposed to move through the night sky? It just seems that the moon shouldnt be gone for the night at 9:30. Shouldnt it be up for longer? And why did it seem to move so fast?

Any thoughts or ideas?

IT varies a little depending on its phase and the lattitude from which you are observing, but The moon travels across the sky at roughly 15 degrees per hour when it passes closest to straight overhead (full phase).

If you are in relatively flat country, the dome of the sky covers 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. If you are in mountain country and situated in a valley you may only see 100-120 degrees of the sky.

15 degrees is roughly the amount of sky your closed fist covers when extended at arms length.

reply to post by Don Wahn


Wow! I saw the moon traverse across the sky and on a separate occasion I saw the moon go up and down, up and down, up and down. please, do not jump to quick and hear me out.

I am convinced Project Blue Beam has been tested and awaits implementation. I also believe what you saw and experienced could quite possibly be connected w/holographic imaging.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks for the inout yall. Since my mind was going 1000 mph trying to figure out what the deal was with the moon, I stood in front of the same window last night to watch for the same phenomenon.

At about 9:15 the moon was in the same spot that I had seen it the night before but this time, the moon didnt set past the horizon until about an hour past the time that it had done. And didnt do it with nearly the same speed.

I dont know what to think about the project Blue Beam theory, but I definitely wouldnt discard it. I was honestly thinking that it was going to come back up after it had set to retrace its route (yes I had a couple beers but was by no means impaires).

I'm going to check again tonight. Lets hope nothing REALLLY crazy happens.

We went to Crater lake in Orgon and one of our friends, observed a great phenomenon, the moon was on the left at about the roof's level in the car, we took a turn around the moutain, the moon obviously came to the right, but this time it was at a level lower than the car's window.....We were blessed to know this....We are going to be talking to a physics professor at our schools and to find out more about this.... , just kidding

reply to post by Don Wahn


How fast does the moon move?

I too have seen the moon moving at a rate of speed that just does not seem possible. I watch the moon going down into the horizon like a hot air balloon. Unless I'm just unaware, I didn't think you can watch the moon go down that fast. Thank God someone else has seen this as well. Project Blue Beam is the only thing that seems to make any sense.

I made an account just to post this.

Anyhow, the exact same thing just happened to me at around 9:15 p.m. And now, I am completely stumped. I have never seen the moon descend so quickly before.. and DESCEND? I was staring at the moon, which was unusually large and yellow today, and shaped like the chesire cat smile, and then it suddenly dropped. It was slightly above the hills and suddenly, in around ten seconds, it descended rapidly into the hills.

Any astronomers out there?

normally, it moves just 25 minutes slower than the sun moves accross the sky, apparent motion of the sun, minus the moons orbit ...see it is 50 minutes different each day...so each new nite we see it, it is 50 minutes different. not quite an hour. do you believe me?

The birth of a conspiracy:

I don't know how fast the moon moves, but it seems to move at a certain speed and is freaking me out.

... conspiracy.

Come on. This is ancient knowledge. It's almost pathetic that these types of questions are being asked. It shows how ignorant people are.

Is this site a conspiracy sight, or just an 8th grade science class? Personally, I seriously have to wonder where and how the people who ask these questions were educated.

Mods: We certainly need to get a new forum on this board for these types of uneducated questions.

reply to post by RestingInPieces


Got a good chuckle out of this "observation" today! The same person who wants pictures of the sun from exactly the same spot and time everyday so he can prove "It comes up in a different place everyday!!" has a video of the moon and he is amazed at how fast the moon was moving! He couldn't keep it aimed at the same spot with a camera on a tripod...he kept having to move the camera to maintain it in the center of his shot! Oh nos! Surely the moon is moving too fast!!!!
People who feel that anything in the sky is not moving "right" really need to look it up on a real astronomical site and try observing what you learn is happening.
The moon does move visibly across the sky, it's a known optical illusion that it looks bigger when closer to the horizon than over your head, and the phase is changing constantly. It's always been that way. It's discussed in the most basic of science classes. It's nothing new or mysterious.
What is mysterious is how many people don't know enough to look up questions for themselves.

I've been trying to work this one out as well. You always get those bull# answers based on globe theory. The point is how fast does it move across the sky observed from earth. I wanted to work it out from horizon to horizon and came up with 14.4 degrees of arc per 60 minutes. Assuming the observer is not moving, the moon will appear to circle the earth every 25 hours, so it takes 25 hours to reappear in the same spot in the sky - 360 degrees/25 hours = 14.4 degrees per hour. Can't remember where i got that 25 hour figure from but its what i used. I post this so someone can check it and tell me whether its right or not. You have to measure by the 24 hour solar clock.

24 x 60 = 1440 mins in a solar 'day'
25 x 60 = 1500 mins in a lunar 'day' (1 revolution around the earth as viewed from earth)
1500/360 degrees of the circle = 4.166666 minutes per degree
60 mins/4.16666 =14.4 degrees
360/25 hours = 14.4 degrees per hour
360/24 = 15 degrees in a solar hour
15x4.16666 minutes = 62.4999
a lunar hour is 62.49999 solar mins.
So the moon will take 62.49999 mins to move across the same amount of sky the sun does in 60 minutes.
The moon will move 1 degree every 4.166666 minutes


I followed the times on timeanddate.com using the Moonrise, Moonset, and Phase Calendar and this just confused the hell out of it because the time from horizon to horizon is different everyday I would have thought it would be static, so i just used degrees, minutes and arcs of the circle divided by the time in a day. You can see that the lag behind the speed of the sun causes the rise and set to occur at times that seem odd, like the rise occuring in the middle of the day giving the day moon

a reply to: destroyer361
Zombie thread!

Did you say "globe theory?"

I would have thought it would be static,

Why? The orbit of the Moon is not equatorial. Nor does its period match that of the Earth's rotation.

I meant if you are standing on earth, there is no way for you to discern what you are standing on. That it is a ball or a linear plane. when i googled this i got the standard Moon rotates spherical earth every 29 days, but that does not correlate with what your eye sees where it appears that it is the moon that is moving in the sky, hence 'globe theory". You may have to read some flat earth stuff to get the joke.

Yep, the moon is jumping around, speeding up and slowing down randomly. Everyone who closely watches and studies the moon constantly lies to the world.

A single person's flawed observation couldn't be the issue.

Is the US in control of the moon, and if so, from who and when did is take control. If not, who is?

Well, if you have ANY experience "chasing the moon" as an amateur astronomer, this question will be quickly self-answered.

a reply to: OzWeatherman

You're right. The moon seems to move fastest when it's the largest. Just the opposite of humans.

originally posted by: Tempter
Well, if you have ANY experience "chasing the moon" as an amateur astronomer, this question will be quickly self-answered.

Useless comment of the day.

a reply to: Don Wahn

My son and I just saw the moon do the same thing last night, that was not normal!