Photography question: Does the Moon turn clockwise like a wheel at night? (1 Viewer)

[NOFALCONS10]

Someone brought this to my attention recently and I've been looking at photos to confirm it.

I've seen people mention and post photos of the moon turning clockwise as it travels across the night sky.

I have my own zoom camera but I can barely get time off from work to use it.

Any moon time lapse photographers here ever notice this?

(First two shots taken from this article From New Zealand )

How-to: Photograph the moon

Whether it's a super-moon, harvest, moon, full moon, or any other kind of moon, here's how to photograph it

www.popphoto.com

 

[gboudx]

The Moon Is Flipped on The Other Side of The World, And It's Freaking Us Out

You step off the plane, having travelled across the world to the opposite hemisphere.

www.sciencealert.com

 

[NOFALCONS10]

The Moon Is Flipped on The Other Side of The World, And It's Freaking Us Out

You step off the plane, having travelled across the world to the opposite hemisphere.

www.sciencealert.com

Thanks for that.

But what I'm talking about seems to be a slightly different phenomenon from what the article seems to be getting at, which is views changing based on perspectives of the observer.

That makes sense if that is the case.

What I mean instead is that if you mount a stationary time lapse camera on either hemisphere it is the moon rather that flips clockwise over the course of the night and not the observer.

 

[SystemShock]

Thanks for that.

But what I'm talking about seems to be a slightly different phenomenon from what the article seems to be getting at, which is views changing based on perspectives of the observer.

That makes sense if that is the case.

What I mean instead is that if you mount a stationary time lapse camera on either hemisphere it is the moon rather that flips clockwise over the course of the night and not the observer.

NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | The Moon's Rotation

The Moon rotates as it orbits the Earth. The radial yellow line marks the 0° longitude meridian on the Moon. || orbit.0175_print.jpg (1024x576) [18.1 KB] || orbit.0175_searchweb.png (320x180) [9.5 KB] || orbit.0175_thm.png (80x40) [1.5 KB] || orbit_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [4.4 MB] ||...

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov

 

[NOFALCONS10]

NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | The Moon's Rotation

The Moon rotates as it orbits the Earth. The radial yellow line marks the 0° longitude meridian on the Moon. || orbit.0175_print.jpg (1024x576) [18.1 KB] || orbit.0175_searchweb.png (320x180) [9.5 KB] || orbit.0175_thm.png (80x40) [1.5 KB] || orbit_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [4.4 MB] ||...

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov

I knew that it's supposed to rotate in a geosynchronous orbit west to east.

I just never noticed that it's face is also rotating radially like a clock as well.

 

[Saint_Ward]

I knew that it's supposed to rotate in a geosynchronous orbit west to east.

I just never noticed that it's face is also rotating radially like a clock as well.

From what I understand, it's due to the fact that the moon, while geosynchronous, is also at about a 5 degree tilt compared to the plane of the earth's rotation around the sun. Then, depending on where you are on the earth, you'll see the moon wobble based on that angle and I believe how far from the equator you are. That wobble makes it look like the moon goes counter clockwise, then clockwise. It doesn't go too far.



Around 3 min in, when the moon is bright in the bottom right photo, you can see how it moves, especially if you drag the video bar to artificially speed it up and rewind it.

 

[Saint_Ward]

I guess the view from the equator is crazy, since they'll dip above and below the moon's plane, so you get a view like you're at the Northern and then southern hemisphere.