Questions tagged [the-moon]
Questions regarding Earth's only natural satellite.
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Will time that moon crosses meridian always be periodic?
If I observe the moon pass my celestial meridian at a specific north polar clock 'time' will I observe every subsequent passage at ( 'current time' + 13.2* X 'days passed' mod 360* ) ? Does the moon ...
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calculating paralax angle from observations
Say I have 2 records, in horizontal coordinates of the azimuth ($A_z,A_z^{'}$) and altitude ($\alpha,\alpha^{'}$) of the moon at the same time in two different places that are $\theta$ degrees apart (...
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Observed lunar distance data?
Where can I find free/open data for the observed (not calculated/theoretical) distance between the Earth & Moon?
I want to see the observed distance of the Moon, hour by hour.
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1answer
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Finding a location geographically of a celestial object, in this case the moon at one of its quarters [duplicate]
Years ago it was mentioned to me the New Yorker magazine had a Young Moon “contest”; who could find the youngest moon; the thinnest crescent after a new moon. I knew enough to know that I would have ...
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1answer
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Does a set moon sky equal a new moon sky?
I am planning some astrophotography. And comparing two times.
On one night I plan a midnight shoot when a waning crescent moon rises at 1am. This is 1 week ahead of the new moon.
The other night ...
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1answer
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Why does the moon not leave its orbit around the earth due to the gravitational force from the sun? [duplicate]
See additional information below added after the answer to the question.
When the moon is between the earth and the sun, the gravitational force on the moon from the sun is greater than the ...
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3answers
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Moon looks too small in 3D model
I'm not sure if this is more a question for a 3D graphics forum, but I'm trying here first in case the answer has more to do with astronomy than 3D.
I am creating a model of the Earth and Moon in a ...
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1answer
92 views
What should I improve my telescope kit to see more details of Moon?
What should I improve my telescope kit to see more details of Moon?
I have the gskyer telescope of 60mm aperture and 350mm focal length.
my eyepieces are 10mm,25mm.
and I have x3 Barlow.
my best ...
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Why do I need to know about moonphase?
I just watch an interesting video about Moonphase watch. mmm... but why do I need to know about moonphase anyway, I just can't think of any practice for the moonphase indicator on the watch?
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Is there any data source for the rotational axes of bodies in the solar system?
I have found several right ascension and declination coordinates for the poles of bodies in the solar system, but there seems to be no comprehensive source that is easily uncovered with Google etc. ...
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1answer
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When did astronomy first discover that the stars are bigger than the moon?
We take it for granted these days that the stars are unimaginably bigger than the planets and the moons. But when you look at the sky, it does not appear this way.
The moon looks bigger and brighter ...
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2answers
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Why do we only see the clouds directly infront of the moon glow from moon light?
Surly the moon is not projecting a direct beam of light which only lights up the small area of clouds around the moon. What phenomenon is happening that only allows us to see that center focus glow ...
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Trying to categorize moon phase using fraction illuminated
I have a dataset with events that are occurring over a period of 5 years. I am trying to determine whether these events are related to moon phase. I downloaded the "fraction of moon illuminated" for ...
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1answer
561 views
Is this photocomposition of Andromeda's galaxy and the Moon accurate?
I recently saw the below image circulating around twitter/facebook/reddit. It is titled "Andromeda's actual size if it was brighter"
One of the comments provides a link to another comparison provided ...
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1answer
131 views
spin–orbit resonance, between moon and the earth
if this happens in the future what will be the consecuences of this?.
Consecuences for the life or the climate conditions.
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Moon trip in 1969 and temperature [closed]
The USA claims to have traveled to the moon in 1969.
BUT...
The temperature on the moon at day is 100 C and at night is -173 cold. How did the astronauts not die??
How did they survive?
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2answers
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A [very basic?] question about light scattering and colors
Since the night two days ago, the moon here in Israel appears to be orange as it rises, and then gradually becomes white as it continues travelling across the sky.
This phenomenon comes in a great ...
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2answers
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Why the moon is blinding me right now?
I'm on the most northern part of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) it is 11.20pm right now and the moon is here as bright as I never saw it before I was just outside and it is as bright as if it was dim ...
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1answer
154 views
Is there a term for a horizontal moon crescent
I seen the other day the moon lit directly below or towards my horizon perfectly.
My question, is there a term for when a moon's crescent is aligned with the viewer's horizon?
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153 views
When the Moon formed and early on, did it orbit over the Earth's equator?
Or was it always at about 5.14 degrees inclination or has the inclination changed over time?
See diagram.
James K's answer to this question got me thinking about this, and I don't mean to call him ...
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1answer
163 views
View of moon from South Pole?
What would the moon look like to someone at the South Pole? To a first approximation, it's bisected by the horizon. But how far above and below does it get?
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1answer
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Can the moon turn red even without an eclipse?
My friend posted a picture of the moon as if there was an eclipse because it was so red but there wasn't a scheduled eclipse at the time (it was last night, from the Philippines).
I'm a little ...
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2answers
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Mountains on the moon during solar eclipse?
I ask myself the reason of why the sun in not uniform on the edge of the moon at this moment of the eclipse (cf. picture) is not unifom is because of the mountains of the moon ? Or can it due to ...
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Why weren't Lunar meteorites identified until 1982?
According to Wikipedia the first meteorite of Lunar origin wasn't identified until 1982. Today 306 Lunar meteorites have been identified.
Why weren't they identified as Lunar already a decade earlier,...
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1answer
709 views
What would be the required conditions for a lunar eclipse to occur only once on a precise annual basis?
As I am aware, lunar eclipses can take place several times a year on Earth. However, I am curious whether it would be possible for this event to only occur once annually on a specific date (and ...
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Why did the moon have a distinct reddish edge tonight?
In Monterey, California, with a "half-moon" high in the sky at about 9 pm (2017-08-30), the moon had a distinct red outline on the outer edge of the NE quadrant; for awhile I saw it also on the outer ...
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283 views
Estimating the Rate at which Moon is Moving Away from the Earth
Here it has been discussed why the moon is moving away from earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year. Is there any way we can estimate the value (e.g, 1.5 inches per year) mathematically?
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If you lived on the far side of the Moon, how could you infer the existence of Earth?
Suppose that you deposit an astronomer, armed with our current knowledge of orbital mechanics, on a dome on the far side of the Moon, so that the Earth is perpetually hidden from them.
(And, of ...
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3answers
243 views
Does the Giant Impact Hypothesis explain how the Moon circularized its orbit?
I just read most of Wikipedia's article on the Giant Impact Hypothesis. Basically a large object impacts Earth and creates debris that soon coalesces into the Moon.
But there is something I did not ...
4
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1answer
111 views
Why do some solar eclipses' umbra cross arctic/antarctic regions?
The ecliptic (Earth's orbital plane) is inclined 23.4 degrees. This is the same as Earth's axial tilt. The Moon's orbit is inclined 5.145 degrees to the ecliptic.
Therefore, the maximum latitude ...
4
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1answer
121 views
How much of the sun needs to be blocked in order to see a noticeable drop in brightness
I live in NYC and just experienced the eclipse. What fascinated me the most was that despite the fact that the sun was about 70% blocked, the area was not noticeably dimmer. If the news wasn't saying ...
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Does Earth illuminate the unlit part of the Moon as [duplicate]
... today is August the 17th? I just saw the moon (4:30 CEST) and I have the strong impression that the unlit (by the Sun) part of the Moon is anyway "visible" as a very very dark grey portion.
It ...
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1answer
331 views
Why is the Moon smooth near the equator and bumpy near the poles?
It looks as if it was polished by applying emery to its spinning equator.
My initial guess was that it was simply an illusion caused by light direction, but the terrain map shows the same phenomena.
...
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1answer
307 views
Converting Earth Moon Barycenter coordinate to Geocentric coordinate
I have Earth Moon Barycenter coordinate (J2000) generated from VSOP2013 in Astronomical Units,
...
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1answer
189 views
Moon, center of mass & geometric center, tidal locking
Since the moon is tidally locked to earth, what about center of mass and geometric center? How far from each other are they? Can a celestial body be tidally locked to an other one if its mass ...
6
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1answer
247 views
The most feasible hypothesis about Theia
The formation of the Moon had many hypothesis over the years, most of them involving a Mars-sized body called Theia, which presumably collided with the Earth. But even within the Theia hypothesis, is ...
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Does the light from a torch reach to the moon?
If a torch is switched on and pointed towards the moon, would the light from the torch reach to the moon?
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1answer
243 views
How much the moon movement can influence an equatorial mount setup?
If I use an equatorial mount for my telescope to view the moon, is there a way to take in count the moon movement around the earth, or the movement is too small compared to earth rotation?
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1answer
279 views
Nodes and declinations of Moon
This nice page from NASA has the possibility to create an astronomical events calendar for a certain period. I tried to do that for the year 2017 for Central Europe. What comes out puzzles me:
On ...
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2answers
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Why do certain moons have their rotational period equal to their orbital period?
Our moon and Saturn's moon, Titan, have this feature. Because of this we only observe one side (hemispere) of our moon. Why is this? What is the Newtonian or astrophysics that would explain this? ...
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1answer
114 views
is there any mathematical formula, paper or anything that shows the probability of a meteor hitting a particular spot of moon's surface?
According to this article http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160209-meteorite-death-india-probability-odds/ a science professor at Tulane University made a paper to calculate the probability ...
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152 views
Could Earth Sustain a Ring? [closed]
Unlike Saturn's moons our moon is relatively much larger in ratio to the size of the Earth. Earth's moon's orbit is also elliptical and is at a tilt to its equator because of this would a ring last ...
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1answer
114 views
Meteor shower from Moon's “debris”
Did we ever witness a "meteor shower" which was actually dust or debris of some kind from our own Moon?
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79 views
Is there a timekeeping word for the orbit of a moon?
For a planet, we can colloquially refer to its period of rotation as a "day" and its period of revolution around its parent star as a "year." Some worlds have unique terms, such as Martian days being ...
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3answers
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What of the following moon-situations would be better?
Okay, so imagine that there is an Earth-like planet, with the following conditions:
It's further from it's sun than the Earth is from the Sun (not much, but enough for weather to be a little colder ...
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1answer
126 views
Does the Earth ever cross the Moon's path with respect to the CMB?
Title says it, really. As I understand, our total peculiar motion with respect to the CMB is 631 (+/-20) km/h, in the direction of 10.5h RA; -24 deg Dec (or rather away from 22.5h RA; +24 deg Dec, ...
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1answer
505 views
Does the new moon appear at the same time around the world or in one region last [duplicate]
My query is basically, say for example if the new moon is seen in the Middle east region, does it mean that it was the day of new moon in sub continental country as well ? You can't have a new moon in ...
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1answer
858 views
How big would the Earth look from the Moon?
Imagine standing (somewhere) on the Moon's surface. How big would the Earth look from the Moon, compared to the image of the Moon we see from Earth? What would be the ratio between the diameters of ...
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How moon north/south nodes can be calculated
If the planetary geocentric position of the moon is known (say, longitude
"254°31'35"") is it possible to calculate such position for north/south (ascending/descending) moon nodes? Or what else needs ...
