An Interesting Observation About The Moon

[Scott Whaley]

Ive been looking back at some of my older shots and just realized we see more of the moon than I thought. We have been taught we only see one side of the moon. Well, that's true and no so true. Here are some moon shots I have taken at different times of the year. Notice how the large crater is in different places.

 

[Thiophilos]

"The large crater" - which of the hundreds of large craters do you mean?

I don't see much difference in what these shots cover, but I think it's well known that we see a bit more than half of the moon from earth.

 

[480sparky]

Given time, one can see a total of 59% of the moons surface. This is caused by diurnal, longitude and latitude and libration.

 

[ACHILLEAS]

Which one of these Samsung uses? /joke.

 

[Digger...]

"The large crater" - which of the hundreds of large craters do you mean?

I don't see much difference in what these shots cover, but I think it's well known that we see a bit more than half of the moon from earth.

Tycho crater i believe...

 

[Jeff15]

Yes, I see the difference, very strange ....

 

[snowbear]

Maybe it's me, but the orientation in #1 and #2 seems different from the rest, maybe 90 degrees. I'm comparing the "notch" in the line of three dark areas.

#1 - "Notch" at bottom of shot. #2 is the same angle.

#5 - "Notch" at right of shot. Some slight differences but the others are closer to this.

That spot looks like Pacman!

 

[Rickbb]

From our point of view it appears to by rotating clock wise over time.

Which is scientifically described in a comment by 480sparky.

 

[480sparky]

Maybe it's me, but the orientation in #1 and #2 seems different from the rest, maybe 90 degrees. I'm comparing the "notch" in the line of three dark areas.

#1 - "Notch" at bottom of shot. #2 is the same angle.
View attachment 279163

#5 - "Notch" at right of shot. Some slight differences but the others are closer to this.
View attachment 279164


That spot looks like Pacman!

That's called field rotation, caused by the earth rotating.

From our point of view it appears to by rotating clock wise over time.

Only because you're in the northern hemisphere. It goes CCW south of the equator.

 

[Scott Whaley]

Here are 2 photos of the moon I took in South Africa last January.

 

[petrochemist]

Maybe it's me, but the orientation in #1 and #2 seems different from the rest, maybe 90 degrees. I'm comparing the "notch" in the line of three dark areas.

#1 - "Notch" at bottom of shot. #2 is the same angle.
View attachment 279163

#5 - "Notch" at right of shot. Some slight differences but the others are closer to this.
View attachment 279164


That spot looks like Pacman!

That's simply down to camera orientation, some shot in Landscape others in Portrait

 

[Scott Whaley]

That's simply down to camera orientation, some shot in Landscape others in Portrait

I never shoot photos of the moon on portrait.

 

[petrochemist]

I never shoot photos of the moon on portrait.

In which case I guess moon rise & moon set must be responsible

 

[jeffashman]

Really some fantastic images!

 

[VidThreeNorth]

The reason that we mainly see the same view of the moon seems to be because it's center of gravity is off-set. In effect, the "heavy side" stays facing earth, but not quite perfectly. That is an interesting theory because how much of an offset is there? Is it possible that something could alter the balance that the rotation becomes more normal? Does anyone care? Why?