Elementary questions about the moon

[hkhil]

Hello<br /><br />I am a high school student having trouble understanding how the moon orbits the earth.<br />I read that it moves from "east to west".<br /><br />Now everytime someone mentions "east/west" etc.. I envision earth as a circle on a piece of paper. Top is North, right side is east, bottom is south and the left side is west. <br />So the moon orbits CLOCKWISE (coming from east, travelling to west)... and the earth ROTATES COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. Right? <br /><br />so question 1: Does it mean no matter where you live on earth, Northern or southern hemisphere, it will rise east and set west? (sorry if it is a dumb question but when I envision my earth as a circle on paper, the southern hemisphere is "upside down"...)<br /><br />Actually I am confused without knowing exactly what is confusing me... so I am not sure what to ask! I read some other material that says the moon is "actually rising from the west but we see it as east". That certainly makes it harder to understand.<br /><br />Any help on this matter will be greatly appreciated.

 

[qso1]

The moon rises in the east and sets in the west regardless of hemisphere until you get near or at the poles. <br /><br />In the image I'm posting, the green arrow shows Earths rotation, the red arrow the direction the moon rotates around the Earth. Note both arrows point in the same direction. <br /><br />This appears at first glance to show the moon rising in the west and setting in the east. And this would be the case were it not for earths 24 hour rotation which is much faster than the moons 30 day orbit. The Earths rotation is what causes the moon to rise in the east, set in the west.<br /><br />Think of it as two cars going around the center of a parking lot in circles. The car nearest the center of the parking lot is going around that center faster than the car farther from the center. To a passenger in the car near the center, the car out the passenger side window will appear to fall behind and if both cars front ends are pointing eastward, and the rears are pointing westward, the further car going slower, will fall behind the car nearest the center in a east to west direction to the passenger in the faster car.<br /><br />Hope this cleared it up. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

To further elaborate on the hemisphere perspective, note the illustration. When an observer on both northern and southern hemispheres look off in one direction, they are not upside down because near the equator, you are almost standing sideways relative to the equator and if on the equator, when you stand, you are perpendicular to the equator. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[Saiph]

one way to think about the hemisphere issue is: In the southern hemisphere, when they face north, east is still on their right. The sun still rises there and sets on the left. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Such nice reply.Congrats.

 

[hkhil]

Thanks everyone for the contribution. graphs etc were great.<br /><br />EDIT: Ok, I re-read it a few times and got it. Thanks Qso. The more I think of it, the more my brain gets jammed. I'll have to let is sit for a while before I venture to read anything more about planetary motions. But it helped a lot.<br /><br />

 

[CalliArcale]

Sometimes I like to use my fists as models of planets and move one around the other to help visualize how these things interrelate. I find that physicality improves my understanding. It doesn't work for everybody -- it depends on how your brain is hard-wired to learn and comprehend. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Experiment:<br /><br />Go outdoors on a sunny day.<br /><br />Hold a volleyball at arms length in the direction of the moon (should it be visible during the day)<br /><br />The volleyball will always be in the same phase as the moon!<br /><br />{really}<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>