Moon's elevation in the nightsky?

Question

OK I've probably seen too many pictures of orreries and drawings of the Solar System which show the moon orbiting at the Earth's equator.

I do realise that the Earth tilts towards/away from the Sun hence the different seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere.

But here (England) the Moon can be almost tracking the horizon and at other times have a high elevation (estimate 70-80 degrees) above the horizon why is there such a variation?

Could someone please explain or point me to a relevant website?

Thank you.

Answer 1

In the UK you are at around a latitude of 50 degrees north.  The North Celestial Pole is thus 50 degrees above the northern horizon, declination +50 is directly overhead and the celestial equator is about 40 degrees above the southern horizon.  The ecliptic snakes between a declination of +23.5 and -23.5 and the Moon's orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees compared to the ecliptic.  Thus is can get to a declination close to +29 degrees or -29 degrees.  When at a declination of +29 degrees it would be 69 degrees above your southern horizon, while at a declination of -29 degrees it would be only 11 degrees above the southern horizon.

Answer 2

Key to your confusion is your picture of the moon "orbiting at the Earth's equator". No, it does not. Its orbit is more nearly in the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun - the plane of the ecliptic. (It's actually inclined at about 5° to the ecliptic). Hence, just as the sun can be high in the sky (in northern summer) or low in the south (in winter), so can the moon. Only, whereas the sun takes a year to go through all its possible heights, the moon does it in a month.

Furthermore, because of the 5° difference, the moon's position can be even higher or lower than the extremes for the sun, as you have noticed (good marks for observation!).

Answer 3

The lunar orbit is inclined about 5 degrees to the ecliptic, which means it can get even higher or lower than the sun in the sky. If for example the moon is 90 degrees past its descending node at the same time it is at the bottom of the ecliptic, in Sagittarius, it'll appear 5 degrees lower than the sun is at the winter solstice. So it'll "track the horizon." Under opposite circumstances, it'll appear higher than the sun ever does.

Answer 4

Don't know if this is of help,out of my realm here but my husband does rate the NASA site (it also has amazing pictures!)