Lunar Phases: Understanding Lunar Phases, Sky Location, and Observing Time, Lecture notes of Astrophysics

Download Lunar Phases: Understanding Lunar Phases, Sky Location, and Observing Time and more Lecture notes Astrophysics in PDF only on Docsity! Lunar Phases Student Page Purpose To study the relationships among lunar phases, lunar sky location, and observing time. Before you Begin If it were noon at your location, in approximately which direction would you look to find a first quarter Moon? A.J.J.A.R. Programs Required Simple Lunar Phases Application Another Lunar Phases Application Questions 1. At the first quarter Moon, does the Moon appear to the left or to the right of the Sun? 2. During what lunar phase or phases does the Sun-Earth-Moon line form a right triangle? 3. What lunar phases can never be seen when the observer’s time is midnight? 4. What lunar phases can be seen when the observer’s time is noon? 5. If you looked at the eastern horizon and saw the full Moon just rising in the east, in what direction would you look to see the Sun? 6. You are planning to do some evening ocean sailing some time in the near future. Because of scheduling conflicts, the only time that you can sail is 9:00 p.m. Since you would like to have the Moon in the sky to help you navigate, what phases could the Moon be? 7. Configure the simulation for an observer’s time of midnight and a full lunar phase. The current view is for someone in the Northern Hemisphere. Where would the Moon be found in the sky if the simulation were suddenly switched to the Southern Hemisphere, but everything else (time and lunar phase) were kept the same? Explain your answer.