Moon in very different locations one day apart

I was driving in to work here in central Texas yesterday morning about 7am. The moon was setting on the horizon at ground level, big and orange, just beautiful. I had never seen a moon setting in the morning, much less this beautiful. Well, this morning at the same time, 7am, I was expecting it to be about the same location and I had brought my camera to take a photo of it. I started driving and was looking for it to be on the horizon again, about to set. I was puzzled to see it pretty high up in the sky. I thought to myself why is it in such a different place only one day apart.
I don't know much about earth rotation, etc., but to me the moon should have been at ground level again just 24 hours later. Anybody have an answer?

I noticed the Moon this morning as well, around 7 am in california, and it seemed to me to look larger than usual, I couldnt take a picture because I was driving and I have no facts to back this up with, but that was the first thing that struck me, that the moon looked too large.

Hope this helps, its a little obtuse, but thats what astronomy is haha

source

Because the Moon rotates around the Earth, its position in the sky relative to the Sun changes rapidly. Within a 24-hour period, its horizontal position, relative to the Sun, changes by about 12 degrees in a counterclockwise direction. In most cases, this causes the moonrise and moonset to occur later than the day before. As the time between moonrise occurrences is more than 24 hours, there are days when the Moon will not rise so the event will not occur until the day after. When this happens, a minus sign (-) is shown. On a day when the moonset occurs before the moonrise, additional minus signs are added and the moonrise is shown on a separate line below the moonset.

I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong, the moons moves 2 hours a day. So where it was yesterday at 7:00, today it would be the placement that it was at at 9:00 yesterday.

The moon moves 13 degrees of arc in one day. That is about 6 inches on a ruler held at arms length.

Not a big move, but substantial, enough to notice in 1 day.

reply to post by sharintexas


A couple of the explanations here are very accurate. As a general rule of thumb, however, since you drive the same way each day, expect to see the moon higher and higher in the sky each morning and missing more of a chunk of itself.

Take the time to visit one of the hundreds of websites that give you a visual understanding of the Moon's rotation if not the motions of the Earth and Moon around the Sun. It can be an adventure.

One last thing for you and others: Our lunar body, our natural satellite, is a proper name. Therefore, it begins with a capital letter: Moon. Other moons in the solar system are all lower case. Myself, I tend to capitalize the words Earth, Sun and Universe.

I will add one bit of info: The air here in central Texas has been cleaned of a lot of the haze and particulate matter by the slow rains earlier in the week.

Perhaps you've noticed that details of distant objects, cars on the ground, planes in the air, are more sharp than usual. That applies even more so to the Moon's appearance and even to the intensity of the Sun's rays in the regular daytime.

reply to post by sharintexas


I think it was setting when it was low in the sky on Wednesday. Obviously, I've seen the Moon in the sky during the day all the time but never so big or bright orange. Normally, when you see it during the day with a clear sky it is small, white, and it isn't visible through clouds. The Moon on Wed. was so bright and orange it glowed through the scattered clouds like a sunset. It looked like our Sun turned into a Red giant star.

The next day when you went to take a picture and Moon was higher up in the sky, was it still as big and orange? Or, was it back to normal?

reply to post by tooo many pills

It was the whitish color it usually is. If it was setting that first morning at 7am, then why was it HIGHER up the next morning..you would think it would either be at the horizon again but a tad LOWER then the day before or completely under the horizon, unviewable, instead of HIGHER, as it is setting not rising as it does at night.

a little after nine tonight we were leaving a restaurant in central Texas, and I see the Moon all HUGE and just over the horizon. It looked really neat and unusual.

reply to post by sharintexas


This site kinda helps. It shows the rise and set times of the Moon along with when it is full and how close it is to the Earth.

www.timeanddate.com...

I noticed that each day of this month the Moon will rise later and set later each day. So, your observation that it was higher up in the sky the next day should be normal, as it takes 50-60mins longer to set each day, so it should be higher and higher up in the sky each day you look. Also, the 19th was a full Moon. Each time we get a full Moon, the Moon is also just about as close to Earth as it ever gets. The Moon fluctuates between 362,000km to 405,000km from Earth.

Maybe, since the Moon was full, very close to Earth, and we recently had a lunar eclipse the Sun was in a perfect spot to illuminate the Moon 100% while it was setting with correct atmospheric (whatever they are) to produce the monster Moon?

Originally posted by toolstarr
a little after nine tonight we were leaving a restaurant in central Texas, and I see the Moon all HUGE and just over the horizon. It looked really neat and unusual.

I need a lunar expert now too. See, I live in upper left corner of SC, it's 12:30AM on the same night you just said you saw the moon set around 9 in central Texas. I JUST went to walk my dogs out in my front yard and the Moon is up high in the sky... if anything, a little more angled towards the East where it rose up tonight. Nowhere NEAR setting. Now I know we're in different time zones (I'm Eastern Standard Time) but should "my Moon" still be high in the sky at "my 12:30 AM" when "your Moon" set at "your 9 PM" ?

Does that question make sense? And what's your time zone, please?

(I am refraining from telling you what I experienced with the Moon two nights ago at Moonrise... I even called my sister who shared my freakout fest.)

I believe the cause for the moon to be in different locations one day apart is because of the pole shift we might be experiencing, i noticed this in toronto as well.

loool..this week..whilst getting out of the gym..approx the same time..i always look at the moon...and it happened to completely rise from the other side..literally

i was thinking of starting a thread but i thought it might be a normal thing ..is it??

edit to add : also there were many days the moon was very visible during the day..but very visible..not fainted

i aint no expert but eager to learn !!!

found a picture my friend took with his mobile..

it was 3pm...even if its normal as can be..still awesome


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ecccdd88a927.jpg[/atsimg]

Tonight around 8:30 pm I was driving east down my road and saw the moon very low. It was an bright orange-ish color and at first, I could see it through the trees, but the closer I got, it was hidden by a house. It was beautiful and I tried to take a pic with my crappy cell phone, but it kept getting blocked by trees and then a house. I was going to pick up my dauhter and knew her phone camera was better than mine, and at about 8:45 when she got in the car, I asked her to take a picture of the moon. It was real high in the sky by that time, but covered by gray clouds. It seemed to me the moon rose up in the sky very quickly.

Also, Thursday night when I went to take out my trash, I looked up at the moon and saw the biggest moon dog I've ever seen in my life. No matter where I stood at, I could not get the entire thing in my viewfinder. I did try with a camera and a video camera, but could not get it all , not even close.

reply to post by sharintexas

Everything in the sky changes positions relative to our horizons every day. The stars and planets change as our orbital position around the sun changes, and the planets move in their own respective orbits.

The moon changes because it orbits the Earth. Did any of you not know this? It takes a little over 28 days for a lunar cycle to repeat; each day it is 1/28th higher (or lower, depending on perspective) than the previous day. Do you think it stays in one place going from dark ("new Moon") to fully-illuminated ("full moon")?

Do schools no longer teach basic astronomy? Even if they don't, doesn't anyone try to learn about things on their own? Or are TV, Nintendo and forums our only references to reality?

This kind of a lack of insight and basic knowledge frightens me more every day than any Chinese or North Korean "threat."

reply to post by tooo many pills


Thanks for the link...will check it out.

reply to post by jdub297


Well, I guess I am a doofus.....

reply to post by sharintexas

No, you aren't. But unless you live in downtown Dallas, Houston, Austin or S.A.,you should take a few minutes a couple of nights a week and see what really is up in the sky, and how things there work.

Try Heavens-Above to see what's visible where you live.

I grew up on the south side of S.A., lived just south of downtown Austin awhile, and could see plenty; even multiple satellites.

2 years ago, I visited relatives in a highly developed part of NW S.A. Light pollution blocked out 80% of the stars, but that left dozens of the brightest, and 4 planets, clearly visible. I took the time to take my 8-year old nephew outside many nights to show him Orion, Jupiter, et c. After just a month, he knew more than his parents, who watched videos and played games or chatted online.

I showed him how to chat and Google, too; but he like the stars better. It's just a matter of wanting enough to know more.

Learning a little about planetary motion and orbital position sparked his interest to follow through with more nights outside. We can all learn just by looking up when walking the dog, or taking out the trash. I still see things that are sometimes surprising, curious or just beautiful.

You might want to find out where Venus is, next. Or Jupiter. They make great sights when the moon approaches near.

Betelgeuse is easy to find. Watch it crawl across they sky in Orion (before it explodes).

I hope you take advantage of Texas' skies to see for yourself. Few people ever have that opportunity. We were lucky.

jw