Wednesday, April 16, 2014
I don't understand the moon. I don't understand anything about the moon. I mean the phases, the route it takes, the direction, nothing. Today I read that the moon crosses the Earth's equator every two weeks! Does that mean it stays north of the equator for two weeks and then south for two weeks, then north again? How does that work? Sometimes the moon is very high in the sky. How can that happen without the moon crossing the equator, unless during parts of that time it isn't visible in the opposite hemisphere at all? Are there periods that the Arctic or Antarctic have no moon until it crosses the equator again? I assumed it crossed the equator on every circuit or something.
I vaguely understand that the phases (full, new, quarters, etc.) have to do with the alignment of the moon and the sun, but "vaguely" is literal. Like, when we see a full moon here, is it full everywhere on Earth? How does that happen? Are there nights when we don't see any moon at all, no matter what the phase, because it appeared in our sky during the day (like it did last week)?
Over the years a few people have tried to explain it to me, but then when I start asking questions it becomes clear even to that person that they don't really understand it. They just thought they did until they really thought about it.
You know what? I've decided I don't care any more. I've given up trying to understand the moon.
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1 comment:
Every time I see a particularly lovely full moon I wonder if my brother in Albuquerque can see it, and of course he can. What I really love is that people in New Zealand can see it too, only it's upside down . They don't see a man in the moon. Evidently when the man in the moon is upside down it looks like a rabbit. A moon rabbit.
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