Why is the moon in the wrong sky tonight?

Question

Where I live the moon rises in the east and takes all night to reach the southwest sky. No I'm not drunk. Look out your window where ever you are. I'm searching the net for information, but can not find information on 'tonight's' moon.

It is strange, I sit outside in the evening always in the same place and watch the moon rise. The moon is not there. WHY?

Answer 1

Here in western Washington, the moon is about 20° above the horizon in the WSW. It's about 4 days old (waxing crescent). Your local newspaper can probably provide you with some information on the moon; for example http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.c...

Answer 2

It's too cloudy here to see anything in the sky, and the sun hasn't fully set yet (woot for Canadian summers -- long days ahoy), but we had a new moon not too long ago.  I'd imagine that what you're seeing is the result of the new moon, which is when the moon is completely dark, from your view.  It'll be back tomorrow, or the day after.  :)

Answer 3

There's nothing wrong with the Moon's position...it's exactly where it should be at this time of the month.

You're obviously not paying much attention to the sky. The Moon revolves around the Earth once every 29 days, which means that it is in a different place in the sky _every_ night. It rises later each day/night and sets later. Today, where I live in southern Ontario, Canada, it rises at 11:06 a.m. and sets at 11:42 p.m. Tomorrow, it rises at 12:15 p.m. and sets at midnight. These times change ever day, no matter where you live.

The Moon could only rise in the same place at the same time every night if it were somehow exactly opposite the Sun. This only happens on the night of Full Moon; the following night it sets a bit later, and in a different place on the horizon. Pay closer attention to the Moon's position and time of rising, and you'll find that this is true.

Answer 4

The moon set last night at about 9 PM, in the west, as always. There is nothing wrong going on with the moon's rising or setting, nor could there ever be. I can't say the same regarding your observational skills. The moon rises and sets at different times each day. Careful observation would have told you that.

Answer 5

The moon orbits the Earth. Once a month, it passes between the Earth and the sun, which is the beginning of a lunar month (not the same as a calendar month).

At the beginning of each lunar month, the new moon appears as a thin crescent, illuminated on the side toward the sun. It rises in the east just after sunrise and sets in the west just after sunset. Each day, the moon rises and sets about 48 minutes later (compared to the sun which rises and sets about every 24 hours).

One week after the new moon, is called first quarter. That's when we see half of our side of the moon lit by the sun. At sunset, the moon is close to where the sun was at noon. It rises and sets about 6 hours behind the sun.

Two weeks after the new moon is called full moon. That's when we see the moon high in the sky at midnight. Since the sun is behind us when we look at the full moon, our whole side of the moon is lit up.

Three weeks after the new moon is called last quarter. The moon rises around midnight and set around noon. At sunrise, you can see that the half of our side of the moon which faces the sun is lit up.

A few days later, the moon is a thin crescent rising in the east just before sunrise. It is very hard to see the moon when it is passing between us and the sun because it is in the brightest part of the sky in daytime.

The current phase of the moon is the same for everyone. If it's a new moon in New York, then it's also a new moon in Tokyo.

Answer 6

It might be a new moon, I'm not sure of the moon calendar for this month. There could also be clouds obscuring it.

Answer 7

the moon rises, on average, 90 minutes later each night.

this, plus the moon's motion against the background stars, were known to the ancient greeks.

tonight the moon is a waxing crescent. look for it in the west at dusk.