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The Moon's Appearance

 
 
Quantum
14:24 / 04.03.03
Here in the northern hemisphere the Moon waxes from right to left and the terminator line is tilted about 30 degrees to the right. I understand in the southern hemisphere it waxes left to right.
Any barbeloids moved from one hemisphere to the other? Did it spook you out?
Any posters live on the equator? What does the moon look like there?
 
 
Icicle
14:43 / 04.03.03
I was talking about this the other day, I live in Northern Hemisphere and a friend of mine has just moved back to southern hemisphere, he's is going to send me a photo of how the moon looks over there. I'm incredibly unscientfic and didn't realise different parts of the world saw a different side of the moon, I thought Pink Floyds dark side of the moon referred to the side of the moon that no-one can see! oh dear, I am stupid.
 
 
Lullaboozler
14:50 / 04.03.03
I remember the time I was in Australia a few years back and looking up at the night sky thinking that something didn't look quite right, when I realised that the moon was indeed upside down (from my point of view).

Upon reflection it was obvious really, but it still made me do a double take.

Can't say I noticed anything about the terminator or it waxing/waning on it though.

Also, way out in the outback where there are very few electric lights (unlike almost anywhere in the UK) I was totally taken aback at just how many stars there are up there. And the Mily Way positively sparkles.

Magical view. Very humbling.
 
 
Mourne Kransky
20:19 / 04.03.03
Will soon be covered in people doing flag dancing and dressing up as dragons, apparently.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
21:00 / 04.03.03
It's not so much the difference in moon, it's the completely alien nature of the constellations that'll get you. That and the fact that even in the city here, I can see stars - in London I found it difficult to get through that orange haze to see what was up there.

Which was good, 'cos it'd probably just've been Archons and shit.
 
 
angel
09:22 / 06.03.03
I hadn't noticed anything strange about the moon, but Orion being the wrong way up really bothers me for some strange reason. (BTW - I'm an Aussie living in London, England)
 
 
Quantum
09:57 / 06.03.03
Apparently there is a plan to put a radio observatory on the dark side (the far side constantly facing away from us) so it is shielded from the ever-increasing radio noise from Earth. That's a NASA plan (or ISA perhaps) so it will be interesting to see if a space race develops- China aim to have a moonbase by 2020 I think.
Icicle- everybody on Earth sees the same side of the moon, just in Oz it looks upside down (and they have weird constellations like the southern cross etc). I think that on the equator the moon would look sideways, and wax up and down, but personal testimony is the best way to find out. If anyone knows what the moon looks like at the equator, tell us!
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
12:43 / 06.03.03
In the muslim world you can only ever see a crescent moon.
 
 
Jack Fear
14:34 / 06.03.03
Yes, and those funny heathen Chinee do their flag dancing. Ah ha. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Fuck's sakes.
 
 
Mourne Kransky
18:11 / 06.03.03
Right you are, Jack, crude national stereotyping. Mea maxima culpa.

But then I'm so ignorant, I still can't get my head around the dark side of the moon conundrum. I tried an experiment with two oranges which one website assured me to explain it all but I only became more confused than before.
 
 
grant
19:21 / 06.03.03
It's round. How can you tell it's upside down?
 
 
Jack Fear
20:01 / 06.03.03
The dark side stays dark, so it's not that: it's simply viewing the face upside-down (from your perspective).

You can tell if, say, a clock is upside-down, right? Or if a smiley face is upside down? There are markings on the moon's face, after all...

And BTW, Xoc, sorry for my unnecessary prickliness. But right now, fair play to the Chinese if they can do it: Lord knows NASA no longer has the belly for the very real risks of translunar travel, and by God we've been bound to this planet for too long. When those taikonauts take off, my heart will be with them; even if they are products of a badly-broken, totalitarian society and I of the "free world", they're going to the Moon and we've got our thumbs up our asses, not doing the thing worth doing because we're afraid somebody might get hurt in the process—and when they go they're taking my dreams with them.

Go go taiko!
 
 
Linus Dunce
21:58 / 06.03.03
Indeed Jack. Though you have neglected to mention the dark side of the moon is referred to as such because it is covered in black wax.
 
 
Jack Fear
21:59 / 06.03.03
To keep the cheese fresh, presumably?
 
 
Linus Dunce
22:01 / 06.03.03
Oh yes. :-)
 
 
Icicle
09:04 / 07.03.03
oh right so there is a dark side of the moon after all! think I will have to look into in more detail to properly get my head around the logistics of it,
Xoc what is the web site for the oranges experiment?
 
 
Quantum
10:17 / 07.03.03
Here is a simple explanation with pictures.
The future lies in China (to paraphrase Banco de Gaia)- they'll be living on the moon while the US is still trying for world domination and failing.
So I'm thinking 1)no posters from the equator 2)nobody knows much about the Moon. Maybe this thread should have gone in the Lab...
 
 
Quantum
10:18 / 07.03.03
Buggerit, here it is
 
 
Quantum
10:24 / 07.03.03
In the little animation link above, the moon is shown with the light/dark line (the terminator) moving across it from one edge to the other. The terminator at half moon is vertical. In England it isn't, it's tilted- that's my point. The orientation of the moon (like a clockface/smiley emoticon ) changes depending on where on Earth you look at it from. Northern hemisphere is as the animation, Southern is identical if you turn your monitor upside-down. Now on the equator does it look like the monitor on it's side, if so which side? Does the terminator go from bottom to top or top to bottom?
 
 
Icicle
11:11 / 07.03.03
ok, I've been looking at the diagram on the link you gave over and over and I just can't get it, it still seems like one half of the world would see the dark side, nevermind, I'll accept that the southern hemisphere would see the moon upside down,
as for the equator....who knows!
 
 
Mourne Kransky
17:29 / 07.03.03
Found the website I was looking at the other night, Icicle, here but the bit with the oranges was behind the further link (the "moon does not rotate" one).

Am busy cooking but need to get back to this and check out the other links above. Hope I haven't just replicated one of those.
 
  
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