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Home , Culmination, Lunar day, Lunar month, Lunar node, Lunar phase, Lunar standstill

2 Lunar V. Lunar Motion Motion A. The Lunar

Dr. Bill Pezzaglia B. Motion of

Updated 2012Oct30 C.

3 1. Phases of Moon 4 A. The

1) Phases of the Moon

2) The Lunar

3) based on Moon

b). Elongation 5 b.2 Elongation Angle & Phase 6 Angle between moon and (measured eastward along )

Elongation Phase Configuration

0º New

90º 1st Quarter Quadrature

180º Full

270º 3rd Quarter Quadrature

1 b.3 Elongation Angle & Phase 7 8 c). Aristarchus 275 BC Measures the elongation angle to be 87º when the moon is at first quarter. Using geometry he determines the sun is 19x further away than the moon. [Actually its 400x further !!]

9 Babylonians (3000 BC) note phases are 7 days apart 10 2. The They invent the 7 “” Start week on a) The “Week” “moon day” (Monday!) First Quarter b) Synodic Month (29.5 days) 0 Time 1 week

c) Spring and Neap

Full Moon Third Quarter New Moon Time 2 Time 3 weeks Time 4 weeks

11 b). Stone Circles 12 b). Synodic Month Stone circles often have 29 stones + 1 xtra one to Full Moon off to side. Originally there were 30 “sarson The cycle of stone” in the outer ring of Stonehenge the Moon’s phases takes 29.53 days, or ~4 weeks

Babylonians measure some have 29 days (hollow), some have 30 (full).

2 13 c1). Tidal Forces 14 c). Tides This animation illustrates the origin of tidal forces. Imagine three identical billiard balls placed some distance from a and released. The closer a ball is to the planet, the more gravitational force the planet exerts on it. Thus, a short time after the balls are released, the yellow 1-ball has moved a short Alexander the Great knew distance, the green 2-ball has moved a longer distance, and the red 3-ball has moved a still longer distance. From the perspective of the center ball (the 2-ball), a force seems to have pushed the 1-ball away from the planet, and a nothing about tides and his force seems to have pulled the 3-ball toward the planet. These forces are entire fleet was stranded on a called tidal forces. sand bar in the Indian Ocean

c2). Two Tides! 15 c3). Tides from BOTH moon AND sun 16

You get a high on BOTH sides of the !

c4). Tidal Strength 17 c5). Spring Tides 18 Sun’s tides are only half as strong At Full Moon the tidal forces add, and you get a because its further away really BIG “spring” or “king” tide.

Since tides are created on both sides of earth, you also get a spring tide at New Moon when the sun and moon are on same side of earth

3 c6). Neap Tides 19 3. Lunar Calendars 20 At First Quarter and Metonic Calendar (500 BC) Last Quarter Moon, • 19 calendar (still used!) the weaker • 1,4,7,9,12,15 and 18 have 13 of the sun partially months, rest have 12 cancels out the lunar • Where to start: tide, and you get a • Babylonians start at spring • Jewish Calendar (& Spartan) starts at really small “NEAP” fall equinox tide. • Athenian calendar started at summer • Off by 1 day in 230 years

21 22 B. Moon’s Motion 1. Sidereal Motion

Sidereal: relative to the a) 800 BC Babylonians 1) Sidereal (orbital) • Moon roughly follows ecliptic • Wanders ±5º above/below ecliptic • Spends 2 days in each sign 2) Anomalistic (elliptical) b) Sidereal Month • One orbit relative to stars • 27.32166 days (varies somewhat) 3) Diurnal (daily motion) • Moves 13º east along ecliptic per day • Since sun moves 1º a day, the elongation increases by 12º a day

c). Relation to Synodic Motion 23 c). Anomalistic Period 24 • The sidereal month is the time the Moon takes to complete one full revolution around the Earth with respect to the background stars. However, because the Earth is constantly moving along its orbit about the Sun, the Moon must travel • Orbit is an ellipse slightly more than 360° around its orbit to get from one new moon to the next. Thus, the synodic month, or lunar month, is longer than the sidereal month. A • At perigee moon moves faster, 5.5% closer sidereal month lasts 27.32 days, while a synodic month lasts 29.53 days. • Synodic period related to sidereal: (29.5)-1 =(27.3)-1 -(365.256)-1 • At apogee moon moves slower, 5.5% further • The perigee “precesses” slowly 40.7º east a year (8.84 year period) • Anomalistic Month: perigee to perigee 27.55455 days

4 25 26 3. Diurnal (Daily) Motion Let’s look at the sky, at the same time every evening. The moon is 1 hour later each a) Aristotle’s Universe • Earth at center (“geocentric”) • : Moon goes around in 25 hours • Solar day: Sun goes around in 24 hours • Sidereal Day: Stars go around in 23 hours 56 minutes

b). Tides 27 28 Alexander the Great knew nothing about tides and his c). Rise & Set of Moon entire fleet was stranded on a sand bar in the Indian Ocean.

• High tides twice a day, at(near) transit (upper • The full moon is opposite of the sun ) and lower culmination of moon • Summer full moon is low in sky, rises in • (Lunar) Tides are 25/2= 12.5 hours apart extreme south east, sets in southwest • Tides can be early/late by half hour or more yellow colored “the honey moon” because of influence of sun pulling it off to side. • Winter full moon is high in sky, rises in • The friction of tides are slowing the earth down extreme north east, sets in northwest (day is getting longer!), causes the moon to move very white “the snow moon” further away by 1 cm a year (to conserve )

29 30 C. Eclipses 1a. Lunar :When the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, there is an eclipse of the Moon

1) Eclipse Types

2) The Lunar Nodes

3) Nodal Regression and Saros

A can only occur at Full Moon Fig 3-22, p.79

5 31 32 A total eclipse of the Moon The colors of an eclipse of the Moon

How the copper color of a lunar eclipse is produced 33 Fiftheenth Proposition of Aristarchus: From the shape of the curve of the 34 shadow of the earth (the umbra) on the moon during lunar eclipses, Aristarchus determined that the umbra was about twice the size of the moon. According to his earlier measurements, the sun was 19 further away Sunlight is than the moon. This gives enough information to determine the sizes of the moon and sun relative to the size of the earth. Combined with Erastothenes’ filtered as it measurement of the size of the earth, one can deduce the size of the moon, passes through the sun, and the distance to the sun and the moon. the Earth’s Atmosphere.

The blue light is diminished, allowing the red colors through.

1b. An eclipse of the Sun occurs when the Moon passes 35 36 between the Sun and the Earth, casting its shadow The phases of an along a narrow strip of land or sea. eclipse of the Sun.

When the Moon exactly covers the Sun, only the light from the Sun’s atmosphere (the corona) is visible. Eclipses of the Sun occur about twice a year, But are often in inaccessible locations. Next one 2017Aug21 At what does a occur ? (Oregon)

Fig 3-20, p.78

6 The Sun’s corona during a total eclipse 37 38 An amazing coincidence … The Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun, but it is 400 times closer.

Therefore, during its orbital motion around the Earth, it sometimes exactly covers the Sun, as seen from certain locations on our planet.

This produces an eclipse of the Sun, but you have to be in exactly the right place …

because the “umbra” (shadow) is so small

BUT this only works if the moon is near perigee.

1c. Annular Eclipse 39 1d. Partial Eclipse 40 May 21, 2012, the Moon was near apogee, hence appears slightly smaller, so can’t blot out the entire Next partial eclipse Oct 23, 2014. Below are details for sun. Instead we got a an annular eclipse of the Sun. one on October 17, 2005.

2. Lunar Nodes 41 2a. Lunar Nodes (when?) 42 Why isn’t there a solar eclipse each month Descending at new moon? Node

Ascending Node

a) Lunar Ecliptic 500 BC Babylonians note moon wanders ±5º above/below ecliptic (orbit is inclined 5º to ecliptic). Moon’s path crosses ecliptic at 2 places. Ascending is where moon crosses above ecliptic

7 43 c). Nodal Regression: Nodes move 19.4º 44 b). Eclipse westward a year. Sun gets to node earlier • Eclipses can only take place when moon and sun are both close to a lunar node, otherwise shadows “miss” each year. Moon gets there 11 days earlier • Sun is at a node twice a year, creating an “eclipse ” • During you have at least one solar and one lunar eclipse. One will usually be total, the other partial.

3. The Saros and Stonehenge 45 3b. 46 a) Saros Cycle • Major Standstill: ascending lunar node coincides with ascending • Nodes return in 18.6 years solar node. • Eclipse patterns repeat, but 1/3 of the way around the earth. • Saros Cycle: 56 years, eclipses repeat • Winter Full Moon will rise/set at most extreme points on horizon • Stonehenge has 56 “Aubury” holes! ( ±29º ) • Minor Standstill: descending lunar node coincides with ascending solar node You can see these chalk-filled holes just inside of the outer ditch

3b. Lunar Standstill 47 48 • Winter Full moon at major standstill will rise one arch to the north of the where the sun rises at c). Stonehenge • At “Minor Standstill” it will rise in the arch to the right! • Has alignments for at major and minor standstills

8 Notes

• All the animations are broken in this one. • Update the eclipses to show upcoming, • Partial solar oct 23, 2014 • Total solar aug 21, 2017 in oregon. • Update lunar node graph • Slide 40: do a better partial eclipse diagram, this one is just grazing.

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