If you traveled to the other hemisphere, the Moon would be in the same phase as it is at home, but it would appear upside down compared to what you're used to!
For example, on March 8, , the Moon was in a waning crescent phase. Seen from the Northern Hemisphere, the waning crescent appeared on the left side of the Moon. Seen from the Southern Hemisphere, the crescent appeared on the right. Data visualizations of the waning crescent moon as seen from the Northern Hemisphere left and the Southern Hemisphere right on March 8, We use moon phases to describe the way our perspective on the half-lit Moon changes as Earth and Moon move through space over the course of a month.
During a crescent moon, for example, the part of the Moon that faces Earth is mostly in shadow, and the far side of the Moon is mostly sunlit. The visible crescent is the only part of the lunar nearside that is experiencing daytime. Data visualization of a waning crescent moon as seen from the northern hemisphere.
During this phase, it is night on most of the near side of the Moon, and day on most of the far side of the Moon. The Moon is always half-lit by the sun except during a lunar eclipse. The side of the Moon facing the Sun appears bright because of reflected sunlight, and the side of the Moon facing away from the Sun is dark. Our perspective on the half-lit Moon changes as the Moon orbits Earth.
When the side nearest to us is fully lit, we call this a full Moon. When the far side is fully lit and the near side is dark, we call this a new Moon. When we see other phases, we are looking at the division between lunar night the dark part and day the bright part. The Moon is shaped like an imperfect sphere. The stars will be in almost the same part of the sky as they were the first night.
Since you waited 24 hours, they had time to "move" around the earth once and get back to where they were before. But the moon will be in a different place! In fact, you would have to wait a little while usually an extra 30 minutes or an hour until it got back to the same place as it was the night before. So what happened? How come the moon "fell behind" everything else? The answer is that the moon is moving.
All the stars in the sky are pretty much standing still - they only look like they're moving because the earth is spinning, as I said above. But the moon is actually moving in orbit around the earth - it takes about a month for it to complete one circle around us. So the moon's motion has two parts to it. It looks like it's moving around the earth once per day along with everything else, but in addition to that it is actually moving around the earth once per month.
That is what makes it move to a different place on the sky. It is even possible to watch the moon move, if you are patient enough. If you carefully keep track of the moon and a nearby star for an hour or so, you should be able to see the distance between them change! Dave is a former graduate student and postdoctoral researcher at Cornell who used infrared and X-ray observations and theoretical computer models to study accreting black holes in our Galaxy.
He also did most of the development for the former version of the site. Why is the moon in a different place every night? This page was last updated on July 18, About the Author Dave Rothstein Dave is a former graduate student and postdoctoral researcher at Cornell who used infrared and X-ray observations and theoretical computer models to study accreting black holes in our Galaxy. Similar Questions that might Interest You Advanced Is the Moon always visible during winter on the North Pole?
Intermediate Is the Moon moving away from the Earth? When was this discovered? Beginner Will the Moon be invisible in million years?
Random Question. What kind of schooling is necessary to become an astronomer? There is a nice animation here that shows the rotation of the Earth, and the relative timescales of the Earth and Moon orbits. I hope this answers your question, and clarifies why the Moon rises and sets in different positions over the course of a month. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly or the Ask an Astronomer page with follow-up question! Does a sunset in the west and a moonrise in the east ever happen at exactly the same time?
Would the constellations we see from Earth look any different from other planets in our solar system? Is the Sun yellow or white?
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