Moon at crest of fullness-- later rising low

Event Date: February 25th

Time: 12:26/6:42(.48)PM

Brief

   Here is something interesting to think about: the Sun's transit on this date for our coordinates of 38º N and 122º W, was 12:22 PM.  "Big deal, right(?)", you may sarcastically think.  Well, there's more: just four minutes later, the Moon reached the (crest) of fullness, at 180º from the Sun in elongation.  We can also think of the 180º separation as opposition, and we are familiar with this term with the outer planets.  Let's look at the Moon at about as far as it gets below the horizon at the crest, while the Sun is just a few minutes past transit.  To show both, I had to get creative and show half of the celestial dome.  The software lets me do enough of a "panoramic" effect to show 191º and include both the Sun and Moon.

Detailed

   For viewers in other parts of the world who want to see the Moon's crest of fullness, they wouldn't need an effect such as this.  That is, in continents such as Europe and Africa, it would be rising; in the Middle East, it would be seen near its highest in the sky; in other places such as Australia, Pacific Islands and eastern Asia, it would be setting.

   For the next image, I will forward the clock ahead and show the Moon rising low in the east.  As mentioned above, this is the way parts of Europe and Africa see it when our Sun is about where it is for us in image one.  The sky isn't quite dark when the Moon is just barely over the horizon, and (although the software won't show it) will look a yellow-ochre color seen in the atmospheric pollution.  Enjoy it rise, while it still looks nearly round from our view.  At the second time listed at the top, is when the Moon is seen directly east, at azimuth 90º, hence my showing it that way.  Just as the Sun is seen low at the horizon at this exact spot a few days after the March equinox and a few days before the September equinox, the Moon does about six months before and after, depending exactly when you look and where its orbit has it north or south of the ecliptic (i.e. the precession of the nodes that I have mentioned in previous entries).

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.