Positional Astronomy - answer to exercise

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http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~fv/webnotes/answer10ac.htm

Exercise:
At a point with latitude near 58N,
the Last-Quarter Moon is seen rising in the north-east.
What time of day is it?
What time of year is it?
If the Moon is at Last Quarter,
it is lagging 18 hours behind the Sun alternatively, it is 6 hours ahead of the Sun.
The Sun crosses the meridian at noon,
so the Moon must be crossing the meridian at 6 am.
At this latitude, if it is rising in the north-east,
it must be at its most northern point,
so it will be rising about 9 hours before it crosses the meridian.
So it must be rising about 9 pm.

The Moon is at its most northern point:

the point the Sun only reaches at midsummer
(that is RA = 6h; declination = +23.4).
And if the Moon is at Last Quarter,
it has travelled three-quarters of the way around the sky from the Sun.
So it is 270 east of the Sun alternatively, it is 90 west of the Sun.
So the Moon is where the Sun was 90 days ago.
So the Sun must presently be at
(summer solstice + 90 days) = autumn equinox.

Back to "The Moon".

3.12.2016 17:09