The Moon Is Upsidedown Tonight ! Las Vegas, Nevada

You still think there's something wrong with the moon?

The moon was boat again tonight in Vegas Funny thing how the spraying starts the heaviest when the moon is approaching the setting horizon as with the sun as well. They love to spray it to death when there is a crescent moon to be seen lately.

reply to post by CherubBaby


I only WISH I had a photo...walking home tonight, here in Southern California (not far off the latitude, on the globe, from Las Vegas) saw the Moon.....an almost "perfect BOAT MOON", althougn still waxing, to my eye....might be waning, haven't yet checked the charts.

It was just "past" half....OR at about "half".....(oh, so SORRY!! NO photo....).... but POINT is, as observed from Southern California, was (looking to the southwest) an almost "perfect" so=called "Boat-Moon". In terms of angle of view, if not the particular equatorial view of the Moon, on this date, 2 January 2012 from a latitude of about 34° North, at the time of about 2200 PST.

(Feel free to enter it into me astronomical program....really....I SAW what the OP claims is "impossible" with me own eyes.....JUST TONIGHT< wouldn't ye know??? (Irish accent in full mode....just so ye ken.....)

reply to post by ProudBird


I never said it was impossible. If it were you and I and alot of others wouldn't be seeing it. But it is supposed to happen only on the equator. Im curious what you are going to say when it happens every month ? You gonna tell us thats normal too? Wait and see friend.

reply to post by CherubBaby


BUT you see....as has been pointed out (ALREADY) in this thread......the appearance is NOT "unusual', on a season and dynamical and cyclical basis...AT all......

Originally posted by CherubBaby
reply to post by ProudBird

 

But it is supposed to happen only on the equator.

Completely wrong, as has been explained to you many times. I'm still waiting for your explanation on why it appears vertical and normal from a polar aligned perspective.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by CherubBaby
...But it is supposed to happen only on the equator...

I've posted this before, but maybe you missed it. This graphic shows why the Moon can look almost horizontal on winter nights when seen from the Northern Hemisphere -- it's because the night side of the Northern Hemisphere is heavily tilted toward the south in the winter:



Right now (two weeks after the winter solstice), the Earth's equator is actually tilted 23° toward the south -- the equator at the moment IS NOT aligned with the ecliptic plane, which is more-or-less the point directly beneath the Moon.

The part of the earth that is aligned with the Moon and the ecliptic plane in the winter is actually 23° NORTH of the equator -- in places such as Mexico.

That means that other parts of the Northern hemisphere (say, for example the Central U.S. at the 40th parallel) would see the moon looking as horizontal as it would seem from the equator right now because 40° north latitude is actually closer to the ecliptic plane than the equator is, as shown buy this math:

At 40° North Latitude:
40° North Lat "minus" 23° North Lat (the latitude aligned with the Moon and the ecliptic at the moment) =

= 17° away from being in line with the Moon and the ecliptic,

Which is closer to being aligned with the ecliptic than the equator, which is tilted
23° +/- SOUTH from being aligned with the moon and the ecliptic. (17° < 23°)

Therefore, from 40° North latitude, the moon will look just as (if not more) horizontal than from the equator -- ALTHOUGH the tilted moon as seen from the equator will look like a mirror-image as the tilted moon as seen from 40° North. From 40° North, the left side of the Moon will look rotated down. From the equator the right side of the moon will look rotated down. It will be opposite, since they are opposite sides of the ecliptic plane.

Im curious what you are going to say when it happens every month ? You gonna tell us thats normal too? Wait and see friend.

No -- it won't be normal if the Moon looks almost horizontal in the summer. However, in all my years of watching the Moon, it has been almost horizontal in the winter, but less so in the summer. I have no reason to believe it would be any different this year, considering the moon looks completely normal at the moment.

The Moon will look heavily rotated toward the horizontal at Moonset and Moonrise through the Winter and into spring. In the late spring/summer/early fall, the Moon will took less horizontal from the Northern hemisphere. It will be a little rotated at night when it rises or sets, but it won't look as horizontal as it does now.

That's because the NIGHT side of the Northern hemisphere in the summer will be tilted up toward the North, away from the ecliptic (basically opposite of what you see on the graphic above).

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


I say just give it up.

If after almost 40 pages he still does not understand the simplistic fact that the Moon does not orbit around Earth's equator, then he is just a lost soul or has some other sort of agenda and is trying to disinfo.

I wonder if he will still ignore what has been explained exhaustively as the moon shifts back into its summer orientation and then does this all over again next winter.

reply to post by CherubBaby


Oh, "Jeebus"!!!!

m curious what you are going to say when it happens every month ?

I CAN''T WAIT to see you post in six months' time!!!! Or, whenever, as has been EXPLAINED to you, the Moon's phases exhibit as predicted, by very smart people.

You gonna tell us thats normal too? Wait and see friend.

Oh dear.....oh dear......HELLO!?! Nurse???

Nice boat moon today from Los Angles, around 9:45, as was foretold.

reply to post by Uncinus


Funny you say as fortold!! I can tell you that the moon is going to continue being boat and wont change now. Of course it's being fortold. Has to be now that the cat is out of the bag. Tell me this. Whenis the moon going to be normal again? What stats can you arrange on that question , if you will.?

Originally posted by CherubBaby
reply to post by Uncinus

 

Funny you say as fortold!! I can tell you that the moon is going to continue being boat and wont change now. Of course it's being fortold. Has to be now that the cat is out of the bag. Tell me this. Whenis the moon going to be normal again? What stats can you arrange on that question , if you will.?

Uncinus can answer you directly too, but my question is: what do you call "Normal"? What amount of tilt do you call a "Boat Moon"?

The crescent Moon will always look at least a "little" tilted while near the horizon (around Moonrise and Moonset) when viewed from the mid latitudes, even in the summer. The tilt will gradually lessen from now until summer, but will still always look slightly tilted.

For example, in April the setting crescent moon may look to be tilted about 40° to 45°. That's still noticeably tilted, but less so than it has been in the winter (such as the Moon in Uncinus' photo above from late January, and even from your Early November photo). There are some people who may still call that 40° to 45° tilted Moon a Boat Moon (although I wouldn't). In July, the setting crescent Moon will look much less tilted, but still slightly tilted when seen from the middle U.S. -- say maybe tilted 10° or so.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Thats a simple answer. I dont know if you have noticed in years past cause I don't know your age and it doesn't matter. What I am saying is this. The crescent of the moon used to be almost vertical when setting monthly, 10 years ago and I havent seen a vertcal crescent in ages. Im not talking about in the winter months of this year Im talking about all year long, as it sets and last year etc. btw the moon is coked now in the oppisite direction. Have you noticed lately? almost laying onb the right side of his face last night. I will be threading on that today.

Originally posted by CherubBaby
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Thats a simple answer. I dont know if you have noticed in years past cause I don't know your age and it doesn't matter. What I am saying is this. The crescent of the moon used to be almost vertical when setting monthly, 10 years ago and I havent seen a vertcal crescent in ages. Im not talking about in the winter months of this year Im talking about all year long, as it sets and last year etc.

The moon has always experienced field rotation, along with everything else in the sky. Unless you used to live at the north or south pole, there was never a time when it set "vertically all year long."
Here's 108-KSC-71P-74, a photograph of Apollo 14 sitting on the launch pad... with a horizontal crescent moon in the background:
apollomissionphotos.com...
Now, this photo dates back to 1971. You claimed it didn't do this until 10 years ago. It did, you just didn't notice.

reply to post by ngchunter


It's interesting that people can convince themselves they remember the moon being different. It ties in with people thinking they remember contrails being different.

Memory is a fickle thing. If you don't realize it, you might begin to trust in its mistakes.

I remember when this thread was first posted. I was surprised to see people are still discussing whether there's something wrong with the moon or not. >_>

reply to post by ManjushriPrajna


Which is even more funny given the fact that if something were seriously wrong with the moon's orbit, the Earth would have long since gone into chaos from the gravitational forces.

Sadly, this thread will probably limp along with random posts from the OP about how we're lying, etc, until summer when the moon returns to 'normal' and then the OP will just silently vanish to some other hair-brained thread. They might even try to drum this back up next winter for all I've seen in ATS.

reply to post by Dashdragon

And what's even worse is that, considering where the moon is in relationship to the earth, and also considering the point-of-view of most people on the Earth observing the Moon, even at the mid-latitudes, it should be obvious that the Moon SHOULD look tilted at Moonrise and moon set.

People observing the Moon from between the mid latitudes on Earth are basically standing on the "side" of the earth (relative to the traditional "North is up" viewpoint). If the Moon DIDN'T look tilted and moonrise and moonset to these people who are basically standing "sideways" on the Earth, THEN I'd say something would be wrong.

But what the OP is observing is not only completely normal, but it is exactly what is expected.

Edit to Add:
ATS member ngchunter points this out when he talks about "polar alignment" in astronomy. Amateur astronomers such as ngchunter understand polar alignment, and understand that the Moon and constellations -- especially constellations near the sky's ecliptic -- will appear to tilt between rising and setting.

For example, the constellation of Orion appears to tilts and almost "flip" every night due to the effects of polar alignment. When Orion rises, the first part to rise is his left shoulder (the star Bellatrix, on our right when we view it) and the "bow" he is holding. However, when Orion sets, those things are also the first parts to set. The only way that is possible is if Orion appears to "flip" or tilt as it moves across the sky from rising to setting.

This is the way people living between the mid-latitudes view Orion, and this is due to them not viewing the sky from a "polar alignment". The Moon should behave the same way -- appearing to flip from rising to setting. Why don't people say "Orion is upside down tonight!"

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


oh this needs repeating-

sorry, it made my morning!

Why don't people say "Orion is upside down tonight!"

reply to post by Dashdragon

I like comedy.. The jokes you know. The ones that don't start a topic they just trash others and are soooo transparent. If it wasn't so pathetic, it could pass for a lousy joke with poor timing and delivery. The earth is in chaos. Or did you sleep through that part of your playbook. I can see them now. Licking their little thumbs and mouse cursors on the edit and or delete buttons. Hey it's good work if you are one of the -- - - - - - - that qualify for the position.