Movement And Observations Of The Moon Through The Night – A Study

Observations of Moon Movement through the Night

The picture above gives an insight into the movement of the moon through the night. The observations were taken at an interval of one hour.  The movement of the moon is across the eastern to western sky. The moon is aligned to the southern section of the sky while at rising and sets inclined to the western sky. The Through the Night observations reveal a difference in the degree of the moon with respect to the horizon across the sky.  The first observation is taken at 6.30 am and has been taken consecutively after an hour following the positions at 7.30am, 8.25am and 9.25am. The moon is in the setting phase when the recordings have been taken and reveal that the moon is during the waning crescent phase after the new moon.

The observation through the night reveals that the moon has gradually changes its angular position with respect to the horizon. The first observation at 6.30 am reveals the moon at 15° altitude and has gradually shifted with 5 degrees every hour. The last observation finds the moon at 25 degrees which reveals the movement of the moon across the sky. The shift has been gradual and there has also been a change in cardinal direction of the moon relative to the horizon. The first observation finds the moon at 146 degree South East of the sky, which has shifted substantially to 160° and 173° south respectively with every passing hour. The final observation fins the moon at 190° south of the morning sky.

Similar to the sun, the moon also experiences an apparent movement across the sky aligned with the north eastern sky during its rise and to the south western sky while setting down. As the Earth completes a total rotation of 24 hours, the position of the moon, changes with respect to the movement of the Earth. Simultaneously, the movement of the moon along its orbit also creates a difference in the altitudinal variance that is observed across the sky through the night.

The moon moves half a degree with respect to the sky across a night towards the east owing to its own motion. Along with the movement of the earth, the moon seems moving towards the south western sky and therefore across 24 hours the moon moves approximately 13 degrees from its original position of rising. The rotation of the Earth creates the apparent movement of the moon towards the western horizon. Since the moon is also moving eastward but at a lower speed than the earth, the moon changes its position everyday in the night sky. The position of the rising moon changes with each passing day.

Apparent Movement of Moon

The shape of the moon changes through the night with the increasing amount of day light towards the setting phase. During the onset of the moon across the horizon while its rise, the moon retains the most of the visible portion based on the waning or waxing shape of the moon. As the moon changes its position throughout the night with less amount of day light to complete darkness, the original shape of the moon is retained. Gradually during the dawn, while the twilight starts, the shape and the orientation of the moon changes being hid under the light of the sun. With Day break the moon becomes completely invisible owing to the brightness of the sun.

There was no such major difference in the appearance of the moon during the observation, apart from the basic differences in the position and visibility of the moon. With reduced clarity during the onset and setting position, the moon can be seen clearly given the there is clear visibility and weather conditions.

The moon moves eastward owing to its own orbital movement. The apparent movement of the moon westward with changing altitude and position is because of two motions, one of the earth’s rotation and the other due to the motion of the moon along its orbit.  The moon moves eastward with half a degree every hour which results in the shift of the moon’s original position in the next day. The shape of the moon changes with the phases of the moon. The observation is during the waning phase of the moon therefore changes in shape of the moon are observed over every night.

The observations were taken at 6.30 am in the morning across three consecutive days. The moon has constantly shifted towards the east every day and the path reflects the pattern of an arc on the eastern half of the Southern sky. The moon has shifted it position at 6.30 am every day denoting its movement around the earth on its orbit.  The TTN observations reveal the movement of the moon across the sky but the striking difference in the position of the Moon across the night sky in the NTN observation reveals that the moon changes its position with respect to its azimuth and in the night sky. The path essentially forms an arc towards the eastern sky and is inclined to the southern horizon.  The regular east ward shift creates an angular path way across the eastern sky when observed every night.

Shape of the Moon

The Through the Night observations across the three consecutive days reveal the position of the moon across various positions in the Southern sky with respect, to the shift in the eastern sky. The most important aspect of the changing position of the moon in the sky is observed by its eastward shift with an inclination to the southern sky. The moon has been shifting continuously along its orbit and therefore there have been shifting trends in the position every day. The rising and setting positions change every day with respect to the initial position in the night sky.

The moon shifted from the west to the east side of the horizon. Across the night sky the moon shifts every day towards the left aligned with the eastern sky.

The altitude of the moon has moved almost 5 degrees with respect to the horizon every day. The altitudinal movement of the moon in the sky has been observed to be 20 degrees on the first day, 15 degrees on the second day and 10 degrees on the third day. The cardinal direction has also changed with respect to the angular movement. 146 degrees south east, 19 degrees south east and 109 degrees east.  The movement of the moon in the night sky was initially measured by the hand span to get an understanding of the shift.

 The moon orbits the earth moving eastward and the eastward shift of the moon in the sky reveals that the moon is moving anti clockwise in the around the earth . The motion of the moon along its lunar orbit keeps the moon moving towards the eastern side of the horizon. The moon moving eastward in the night sky confirms the counter clockwise movement of the moon around the Earth.

The observation reveals that the moon does not rise or set in the same time every day.  The image reveals that at the 6.30 m the moon has already shifted towards the end of the left horizon and the following days would find the moon setting down by 6.30 am. The every passing day in the lunar cycle the moon changed its rising and setting time. The setting time of the moon in the last observation was nearly an hour after the observation was made. The regular eastward shift makes the moon rise from the horizon with a shift in the time of its rise and setting as well. The different quarters of the moon finds the moon rising and setting in different times with respect to its changing position. The waning crescent

Moon Orbit and its Movement

The moon moves towards the east and so does the earth but at different speeds. The reason the moon shifts eastward in the night sky every day is the reason of this varying differences in the speed that the moon travels around the earth. The moon moves approximately 13 degrees eastward everyday with respect to the earth. This is the reason why the moon shifted its position everyday through every night in the sky.

With the movement around the earth, the moon completes its revolution in 29 days approximately. This is known as the synodic period or the lunation.  The lunation period is the time required by the moon to return to its initial position.  Though the moon actually takes 27 days to complete its phase around the earth, the time is extended due to the simultaneous revolution of the earth which changes the angular view from the earth.  These different motions of the earth and the moon, the moon will change its position with respect to the sky in the following lunar cycles.  The moon will be changing the altitude with respect to the horizon and the initial position will also be shifted east ward in the next cycle.

The moon would follow this path due to the changing orbital position of the moon along with its apogee and perigee thereby creating difference in the appearance of the moon. The most important aspect that affects this change of position is due to the elliptic shape of the moon’s orbit creating a new sequence of path in the night sky.

The illuminated part of the moon has changed through the night observations.  The phase denotes the waning crescent phase of the moon.  The moon is in the waning Crescent phase of the lunar cycle. The first observation is nearly round with next two observations finding the moon in a being more waning each day with the non illuminated portion being reduced in size every day. The moon is approaching towards the last quarter and eventually towards full moon.

Apart from the changing phase of the moon there were no other changes observed. The changes in appearance and the shifting position  of the moon  was the only changes observed and the no other phenomena were involved for such variance in the shape of the moon.

The moon changes its apparent shape owing to its natural movement along the orbit around the earth.  The orbital movement of the moon creates the phases of the moon that keep changing with the lunar cycle creating alternate phases of new moon and full moon.

Conclusions

The actual movement and change in the apparent shape of the moon relate to the answers of the hunch quiz. However in the hunch quiz we had observed the waning phase of the moon, the original observations revealed the waxing phase of the moon. The movement according to the hunch quiz is relative to the motion observed in the sky.

The changing position of the moon has is equally applicable for the observation that were made in the TTN and the NTN. However the shape of the moon has been changed due to different phases stated in the Hunch quiz and the different phases observed in the sky. The moon changed its location with every passing day due to the different motions of the Earth and the moon.  The orbital plane of the moon is also tilted with respect to the Earth’s equatorial plane and is one of the reasons behind the shifting position of the moon across the night sky. The change in position of the moon is affected by the difference in the orbital plane along with its simultaneous motion around the Earth and therefore creates the shifting of the position of the moon on the night sky in both the angular position and the cardinal position of the moon.

The answers that were stated in the hunch quiz have been essentially confirmed after the observations that were made. The observation allowed me to understand the motion of the moon on real time with respect to what we had learnt in our class and the answers that were given in the hunch quiz.