Does the moon always rise from the same direction? What is it? How do I figure it out if not?

Question

I would like to get a photo of the full moon from a particular scenic vista that faces roughly northeast. It is a long hike through the woods at night with camera equipment. How do I figure out if it is possible without going to look and wasting my effort?

Answer 1

The position of Moonrise and Moonset, like that of Sunrise and Sunset varies as the Earth goes around the Sun, but also with the phases of the Moon.

When the Moon is new, it rises and sets with the Sun, and the position of Moonrise/set varies just like that of Sunrise/set. When the Moon is full however the pattern is inverted. To be more explicit (again here this is for the Northern hemisphere, for the South exchange North for South):

                  Moonrise/set Direction  

Phase:---------FULL

Season

Winter----------NE/NW    

Spring----------E/W

Summer-------SE/SW  

Autumn---------E/W

Like the Sunrise/set positions, the amount of variation depends on your latitude.

It appears from this chart that, in order to get the Full Moon rising in the northeast, you will have to do it in the winter if you are in the northern hemisphere, or as soon as we have another Full Moon in the southern hemisphere.  That woud be this coming Friday, July 18 at 3:00 AM Central Daylight Time in the US.

Answer 2

Let's figure it out.

1. All bodies (Sun, Moon, Planets, Stars) rise in the east & set in the west. But their rising and setting times may fall anytime in the 24 hours, except the Sun (rises at 6am & sets at 6pm roughly).

2. If your vista is in NE, better measure its bearing (Azimuth)by compass. You need a compass for this. Bearings are: 0 degrees for N, 45 d for NE, 67 1/2 d for ENE, 90 d for E & so on.

3. The Ecliptic (path of Sun, Moon & planets) is tilted to celestial equator by 23.45 d. Its northernmost point reaches in the constellations of Gemini/Taurus.

Let the bearing angle you seek is 'B'. What should be 'B'?

Fullmoon occurs at that spot (Gemini/Taurus) during 16 November to 16 December. Other Fullmoons occur further south till SE in May/June. Even this Autumn moon has a bearing 58.47 d (roughly ENE).

4. Moons orbit deviates from the ecliptic by a further +/- 5 d.

By looking in the 'Almanac' you can select the Nov/Dec moon with a north-ward shift further by 5 d. This will give the bearing 52.54 d.

In any case (after plugging in the value of moon's orbital deviation), the zone shall have to be B = 52.54 to 64.74 degrees.

5. You can choose, by positioning the camera so that your vista has a bearing in this range. You can move in a big arc from south to north, to the west of the vista till you get your bearing right. But remember in your latitude Fullmoon-rise occurs much before 6pm in Nov/Dec. My computation says 1:27 before 6pm, if you don't consider moon's orbital deviation - for a latitude of 45 d;

Tan^(-1)[sin (23.45 [+/-]5 d)].

It amounts to 1:42 before 6pm for +5 d orbital dev.

to 1:10 before 6pm for -5 d orbital deviation.

You can have a trial run 1 daybefore the full moon when moon rises in the same spot 50 minutes before. If you want to have  near Fullmoon version, you can repeat it on the next day after Fullmoon, 50 minutes later.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Not exactly.  The Moon's orbit is tilted by 5 degrees or so, and has some other odd features.

An astronomical almanac can give you the formulas to compute the exact place the Moon will be in the sky given a time and place on Earth.

The programs kstars, and stellarium are free and work on a variety of computer platforms. (There are other programs too). They can do the computation for you.  They can show you where it will be in the sky.  They can not predict the weather, however.

Answer 4

no i don not think so.http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9G_bF.BMH5I0A...

Answer 5

The moon always rises toward the east and sets towards the west, just like the sun, stars and planets. They  travel in an arc across the sky called the ecliptic.

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/astronomy/...

You can find times for moonrise and information on moon phases here, just punch in your info:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_One...

Happy shooting:)

Edit: Clear skies would be good too since it's a hike. This is the site I use. It even has "stargazing conditions". It's done with your zip code.

http://www.accuweather.com/forecast.asp?...

Answer 6

The moon always rises the opposite of the sun - it rises in the west and sets in the east.

Answer 7

there are a number of astronomy programs available on the internet, look it up on one of them. They ask where you are, what time, and what the astronomical body you are interested in. It then calulates the position of the body, providing you with your answer.

Answer 8

This might be what you are looking for...the moon always rises "in the east" , but not exactly due east...from your question, it sounds like you're looking for a series of pix that show the moon rising each day/ night so that you'll see how it moves slowly north or south as the days go by.

The jaxbeach cam is controllable, btw....pretty cool, just by itself

oh yeah, p.s....i found these 2, by goggling "florida beach cams"

Answer 9

hr full moon rises in he norrtheast  during the winter and in the southeast in the summer.