Why as the moon risen on the west and traveling east to set??

[Dean bailey]

Why as the moon risen in the west and going east to set, is this normal after an eclipse.

I'm a pure beginner so any help would be nice, Thanks for reading.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'm sure its nothing to do with the eclipse, but i have wondered the same thing. As we see things from Earth and the direction the earth spins (anti-clockwise)...............objects like the Sun and planets and just about anything you can think off appear to rise in the east and set in the west. During the eclipse, the Moon appeared to move across the Sun from west to east. 

The moon confuses me. 

[Dean bailey]

That's right mate it's like the moon travels west to east now, just puzzling me, is it because we are changing ages.

[jambouk]

The moon rises in the east...

[LukeSkywatcher]

Oh i think i have it now. Concentrate............here comes the science bit. The Moon orbits the Earth at a much slower speed then the Earth rotates, so during the eclipse the Moon was where it was during its orbit of Earth (it takes 1 month to complete an orbit of Earth). Because the earth was spinning much faster (i full rotation every 24 hrs), the Moon appeared to be travelling west to east. 

It wasnt and never has or never will. Its just our perspective. Essentially the Earth was spinning anti-clockwise and the Moon appeared to be going west to east. 

Bit of an optical illusion i think.

Anyone else care to jump in an explain it.

Its down to retrograde motion me thinks. If you study diagrams of planets, some seem to backtrack on themselves. They dont really. Its our perspective of them are they orbit the sun and sometimes we overtake them and they appear to do a complete reverse of direction.

Here's a good image of the retrograde motion of Mars.

[Dean bailey]

This as gone even crazier now, I've just looked and the moons gone back down in the west now after rising from the west for few hours now it's gone back down in the west, does this happen every new moon or something, I'm just a pure beginner here

[Cornelius Varley]

The moon always rises in the East and sets in the West. But, just to confuse things, it travels in a West to East direction. 

[Helite]

The moon doesn't rise in the West, still raises in the East but close to the Sun, its Just gone down in the West as usual here shortly behind the Sun, nothing unusual.

[Helite]

This as gone even crazier now, I've just looked and the moons gone back down in the west now after rising from the west for few hours now it's gone back down in the west, does this happen every new moon or something, I'm just a pure beginner here

It has just traveled across the sky all day beside the sun so you couldn't see it, it only became visible after sundown giving you the impression it had just risen.

[Cornelius Varley]

This as gone even crazier now, I've just looked and the moons gone back down in the west now after rising from the west for few hours now it's gone back down in the west, does this happen every new moon or something, I'm just a pure beginner here

If the Moon is young then it will be close to the Sun and it will only become visible after the Sun has set in the West. It would then appear to have risen in the West.

[jambouk]

Dean it ALWAYS rises in the east and ALWAYS sets in the west.

I think what might have confused you is that the moon only became easily visible this evening after sun set and when that occured, the moon was on its way to setting in the west, so it looked like it had just appeared, but actually it is just about to set.

The moon rises and sets every day, but when the sun is behind the moon, as on the day of the eclipse, the face of the moon facing us isn't illuminated so we can't see it.

I'm not sure i'm making myself clear. Sorry.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The moon always rises in the East and sets in the West. But, just to confuse things, it travels in a West to East direction. 

We know it rises in the east. Are you saying it orbits the Earth in a clockwise direction?..............while the Earth spins in an anti-clockwise direction?.

Think i'm even more confused now then i already was.

[Cornelius Varley]

If you think about it the Moon rises later each day, so it must be travelling in a West-East direction, as well as East - West. 

My head is beginning to pin, so I'm going to lie down.

[Paul M]

This does happen after new moon.

The Moon will have risen after the Sun in the east this morning but being a thin crescent won't have been noticed until after sunset when it was obviously setting.

As the moon gets further round in its orbit it rises a bit later and a bit further from the Sun each day.

By full moon the moon is 12 hours behind the Sun and we see it rise at dusk and spend all night crossing the sky, setting around dawn.

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[LukeSkywatcher]

Here's another Q about the eclipse/Moon:

Friday's Moon was a "super moon" with figures of it appearing 10% bigger then normal. 10% bigger = 25,000 Km closer to Earth then normal.

So why did it not block out the sun completely for all of us if it was that much "bigger"?. Or block out 10% more then it did for most of us?.

[Gazabone]

The easy answer is both the Sun and the Moon rise in the East and set in the West. What you saw during the eclipse is the Sun overtaking the Moon :-)

[Dean bailey]

I no my east and west and I use the app star walk on my iPad i no what I seen, the moon as risen tonight in the west and come up for while and gone back down in the west, there's proberly a scientific explanation to it, it was just confusing, I no things rise in the east and set in the west but tonight the moon risen west came up for a while and went back down and set west, my app on my iPad don't lie.

Like I said I'm a pure beginner into astronamy, just here to learn but for sure the moon came up west tonight and set again in west.

[Paul M]

All that extra diameter did was make the path of totality wider, thereby letting more sites experience totality.

10% still only means 5% along any limb so only half the expected benefit for those of us so far off axis.

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[Cornelius Varley]

We know it rises in the east. Are you saying it orbits the Earth in a clockwise direction?..............while the Earth spins in an anti-clockwise direction?.

Think i'm even more confused now then i already was.

 In reality both the Earth and the Moon rotate in anii clockwise direction. The Lunar orbital rate is  less than sidereal rate.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The easy answer is both the Sun and the Moon rise in the East and set in the West. What you saw during the eclipse is the Sun overtaking the Moon :-)

Due to the Earth's rotation?.

Let's go with that.

[Ruud]

How about this:

both the Moon and the Sun move from West to East against the stars. The Moon does do faster (and overtakes the Sun) but even it takes takes a month to make one revolution.

Meanwhile, the Earth also turns from West to East and takes one day for a revolution. We perceive the Earth as standing still. As a consequence, the stars with Sun, Moon and all, seem to move from East to West.

Yet, against the stars, the Sun and Moon move from West to East and the Moon overtakes the Sun once a month.

[Paul M]

I no my east and west and I use the app star walk on my iPad i no what I seen, the moon as risen tonight in the west and come up for while and gone back down in the west, there's proberly a scientific explanation to it, it was just confusing, I no things rise in the east and set in the west but tonight the moon risen west came up for a while and went back down and set west, my app on my iPad don't lie.

Like I said I'm a pure beginner into astronamy, just here to learn but for sure the moon came up west tonight and set again in west.

Well, you are either misinterpreting the facts or we are all wrong.

I think I know the answer to that one too

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[Cornelius Varley]

I no my east and west and I use the app star walk on my iPad i no what I seen, the moon as risen tonight in the west and come up for while and gone back down in the west, there's proberly a scientific explanation to it, it was just confusing, I no things rise in the east and set in the west but tonight the moon risen west came up for a while and went back down and set west, my app on my iPad don't lie.

Like I said I'm a pure beginner into astronamy, just here to learn but for sure the moon came up west tonight and set again in west.

The Moon will always rise in the East and set in the West. You may have first seen it in the West just after sunset, but it still rose in the East - just as it always will. You would not have seen it rise in the East because the sun light would have made the sky too bright to observe the Moon during daylight and the Moon would not have become visible until after sunset.

[LukeSkywatcher]

 In reality both the Earth and the Moon rotate in anii clockwise direction. The Lunar orbital rate is  less than sidereal rate.

I suppose it makes sense for a planets moon(s) to rotate in the same direction as the gravitational pull of the planet will drag the moon(s) along with it in the same direction.

Example: Jupiter rotates left to right and its moons also rotate left to right.

Dont ask me which is the only planet that rotates in a clockwise direction. I'd have to look it up again. I think its Venus.

[jambouk]

It is Venus.

Uranus at 90 degrees.

And there is a moon which does something odd too, but can't remember which.

James