And if the Band You're in Starts Playing Different Tunes

Three "Did You Know"s in a row. I wasn't planning it, but Mel came inside just now and said she couldn't find the Moon. That's because it is between the claws of Scorpius right now, and we in the northern hemisphere can only see Scorpius in late June through early July. Mel couldn't understand how the Moon ended up over there.

I'll take this opportunity to illustrate why.

The Moon doesn't hover over our hemisphere. You can't expect to walk outside on any given night at any given time and see the Moon. If that were the case, then the other side of Earth would never see it.

The Moon orbits Earth at a rate slower than Earth rotates, which naturally means that sometimes the Moon will be facing your side, and sometimes, it won't.

| Posted in » astrophysics, Did You Know, Moon, science, space