Is the moon half, full, crescent the same all over the world?

Question

For example is it full here in London, but half full in America? Or full in France but crescent in Africa?

Answer 1

Yes, but it will change minutely.

Answer 2

Hi Josie!

Everywhere in the world, the phase of the moon is the same at the same time.  Everyone sees the same moon.

Suppose it's midnight in London, under a full moon.

Here in New York, the moon is just coming up, and it's full.  In India, the moon is about to set, and it's full too.

Think about New Zealand.  When the moon is up in the sky at London, it's below the horizon in Auckland.  Even there, however, when the moon does come up  several hours later, it's still full.

The moon is so far away from earth, about 240,000 miles, that the mere 8,000 miles difference between London and New Zealand is not enough that you see a different moon phase from them.

There is one subtle difference, though, caused by the effect of time zones.  Suppose that the precise moment when the moon is full is 10:15 a.m. British Summer Time, like it is this September 15th.  When you go outside that September evening, nine hours later, you'll see the September full moon (known as the "harvest moon").

What about me in New York, though?  For me, the moment of full moon, which happens at the same instant every place in the world, comes at 5:15 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.  As it happens, the moon at the official instant of the full moon will still be in the sky for me early that morning, the same one that rose the evening before.  For me, due to the effect of time zones, the closest moon rise to the full moon happens the evening before yours, September 14th, which is when we in North America see the harvest moon in 2008.  

In New Zealand, the precise moment of the full moon happens on September 15th all right, but at 9:15 p.m. New Zealand Standard Time, and it will already have risen several hours before.  In New Zealand, they see the full moon the same evening as you, but while in London the moon rises nine hours after the official moment (10:15 a.m. British Summer Time) in New Zealand that evening the moon will already have come up several hours before the official moment.

Answer 3

it depends on you're viewpoint