The moon
rises at an angle oriented to the left when viewed from the southern
hemisphere. If you were standing on the equator watching the moonrise,
it would travel straight up, perpendicular to the horizon. If you
were in the northern hemisphere, the moon's rising path is inclined to
the right. This same relation holds for the paths of rising stars
as well as the sun. Many thanks to Elizabeth Wunker, January,
2005 for the photos of the moon rising over New Zealand. The last
photo shows the moon "hiding" behind a tree. The automatic
exposure on Elizabeth's camera, then allowed a better image of the
buildings and foreground objects.
On careful inspection of the animated image above, one notices a faint ghost moon image moving the other direction in the top half of the photos. That is attributed to lens flare - caused by internal reflections of the camera lenses due to such a bright object - the moon.
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On careful inspection of the animated image above, one notices a faint ghost moon image moving the other direction in the top half of the photos. That is attributed to lens flare - caused by internal reflections of the camera lenses due to such a bright object - the moon.
Go back to the main page: