Trouble finding the Man on the Moon...Is the Moon cock-eyed?

Some days it's just so hard to spot.

Here's the moon as I was familiar with since a kid:

upload.wikimedia.org...

It's libration too then all well and good:

upload.wikimedia.org...


But then I look up to the moon today which is often and it's like cockeyed:
astrophotos.pbworks.com...
ecogirlcosmoboy.files.wordpress.com...
www.scientificamerican.com...
i.space.com...

Erm. The Earth is circular not flat. This means the moon viewed from the south pole will be upside down compared to the moon viewed from the north pole. Needless to say the view varies between these two extremes depending on where you are on the earth.

reply to post by yorkshirelad


Well I can honestly say I've never been to either the North or South pole I've been pretty much the same latitude in the N Hemisphere my entire life.

reply to post by CircleOfDust


You also must take into account the wobble and axis of the Earth, which is never exactly the same.

reply to post by kimish


That must be some serious ass wobble then.

How about the rabbit? Do you see the rabbit on the moon?

Pladuim

reply to post by Pladuim


He never pokes his head up long enough for me. Well usually. Once I did see him in my telescope, but he just angrily pointed at me like the evil monkey in my closet.

Originally posted by CircleOfDust
reply to post by Pladuim

 

He never pokes his head up long enough for me. Well usually. Once I did see him in my telescope, but he just angrily pointed at me like the evil monkey in my closet.

HAHAHAHA

I also love family guy

reply to post by davesmart


Family Guy?

Originally posted by CircleOfDust
reply to post by davesmart

 

Family Guy?

Yeh
The evil monkey lives in closet lol
google it

reply to post by davesmart



This guy?

www.cartoonshdwallpaper.com...

~(_8^(|)

reply to post by CircleOfDust


You have one too??

Originally posted by CircleOfDust
reply to post by davesmart

 

This guy?

www.cartoonshdwallpaper.com...

~(_8^(|)

no
thats the simpsons

this:
familyguy.wikia.com...

reply to post by davesmart


Holy crap that's him!

Originally posted by CircleOfDust
reply to post by kimish

 

That must be some serious ass wobble then.

Actually it's got nothing to do with chandler wobble, which is orders of magnitude too small to detect by eye or even by most telescopes. It has to do with field rotation. Lunar libration also plays a role, but to a smaller and slower extent. It's a normal effect from viewing the moon from a non-polar aligned perspective. The extent of the apparent rotation or "apparent tilt" depends on your location on earth and the moon's location in the sky relative to the sun.

This spreadsheet I designed will calculate the angle of the apparent orientation of the moon relative to the horizon.
dropcanvas.com...
I described an earlier version of the above spreadsheet on this thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by ngchunter


Field rotation doesnt explain it. It only applies really to telescope viewing. I can turn my head when looking at the moon. The orientation of the moon's face doesn't depend upon field rotation, but where a person is standing on Earth.

The stars in the sky move because of field rotation because they are so far away and not orbiting the earth like the moon does.

Originally posted by CircleOfDust
reply to post by ngchunter

 

Field rotation doesnt explain it.

Actually in combination with lunar libration, it does.

It only applies really to telescope viewing.

No, it doesn't. It applies to any view of the sky that is not polar aligned. Therefore a lack of field rotation only applies to some telescopic views.

I can turn my head when looking at the moon.

Sure you can, but generally people view the moon by simply looking up-down and left-right, not cocking their head sideways to match the moon when it appears to be "horizontal," and even when doing so they have no way to independently confirm that their heads are "polar aligned."

The orientation of the moon's face doesn't depend upon field rotation,

Yes, it does. That is why my spreadsheet works.

dropcanvas.com...

but where a person is standing on Earth.

Where a person is standing on earth influences the amount of field rotation and therefore the apparent angle of the moon relative to the horizon. It also applies to the constellations just as easily; they also look "upside down" when viewed from the opposite hemisphere, north or south, from which you are accustomed to.

The stars in the sky move because of field rotation because they are so far away and not orbiting the earth like the moon does.

Field rotation applies to the moon just as easily as the stars. Its orbital motion simply causes it to move relative to the stars slowly over the course of the night, but it doesn't significantly impact the appearance of field rotation. Even fast moving satellites like ISS show field rotation as they move through the sky.

Here's some photos I took of the "super moon" from Georgia

www.flickr.com...

www.flickr.com...

www.flickr.com...

reply to post by Cito


Nice. Lots of supermoons lately. When something becomes more common, doesn't it lose its 'super' status?

reply to post by ngchunter


Spreadsheets you say? Oh no.

Well thanks for your hard work. And remember which forum this was posted to.