Moon Project Jessica Davidson Astronomy 7 Observation Time: 8:50 p.m.
Observation 1 A) Date &Location: September 24, 2012.Mt.SAC Campus B) North determined by IPhone App C) Altitude: 37 degrees D) Azimuth: 143 degrees E) F) Waxing Gibbous G) Moon rose at 3:24 p.m.
Observation 2 A) Date &Location: September 26, 2012.Mt.SAC Campus
Unified and Paraphrased:
Jessica Davidson’s Moon Project for Astronomy class recorded observations of the moon at Mt. SAC Campus on September 24, 2012, at a time of 8:50 p.m. The north direction was determined using an iPhone app. The moon had an altitude of approximately37 degrees and an azimuth of approximately143 degrees. It was in the waxing gibbous phase and had risen earlier at around3:24 p.m.
Another observation was conducted on September26,2012atMt.SACCampus.
E) F) The moon appears almost like a full moon, but it is actually waxing gibbous. G) I observed it at 5:45 p.m. on September 30, 2012, at my home in Hacienda Heights. B) The direction facing north was determined using an iPhone app. C) The moon had an altitude of 35 degrees and an azimuth of 145 degrees.
E) F) On October 2, 2012, I observed a full moon at 6:50 p.m. at my home in Hacienda Heights. B) Again, I determined the direction facing north using my iPhone app. C) The moon had an altitude of 22 degrees and an azimuth of 158 degrees.
E) F) At 8:01 p.m., I observed a waning gibbous moon. G) This observation took place just before the moon reached its transit time of 8:50 p.m. according to the moon transit for today.
Additionally, I determined the moon’s transit by visualizing a line crossing the mountains from north to south. It appeared that the moon had descended just below this line. H) Before transit, while observing the moon, it seemed to be positioned in front of my imaginary north-south line in the sky. It had not yet reached its peak point. I) The illuminated section of the moon appeared larger, with less darkness compared to a previous observation. J) The altitude rose by 10 degrees, while the azimuth dropped by 10 degrees.
K) The moon rose 1 hour and 16 minutes later than in the first observation. H) Its position below an imaginary line from North to South indicated that it was positioned before transit. The moon appeared lower in the sky with an azimuth value less than 180 degrees. I) On this day, a larger portion of the moon was visible compared to the previous observation. It appeared almost fully illuminated. J) While the altitude decreased by 1 degree, the azimuth increased by 1 degree as well. K) In comparison to the second observation, the moon rose 1 hour and 5 minutes later.
H) The moon is observed to be before transit as it is positioned to the left of an imaginary line drawn between the mountains (north) to south. Additionally, the calculated azimuth is less than 180 degrees, indicating its pre-transit state.
I) In comparison to observation 3, the moon appears fully illuminated with no visible darkness.
J) Unlike observation 3, observation 4 reveals a decrease of 11 degrees in altitude and a simultaneous increase of 11 degrees in azimuth.
K) Compared to the 3rd observation, the moon rose later by 1 hour and 5 minutes.
H) When I observed the moon, it was before transit. I determined this by drawing an imaginary line from North to South and noticing that the moon fell too left of this line. This indicated that it was before transit and not at its highest point. Additionally, the azimuth was less than 180 degrees, providing an estimate of its position in the sky.
I) This observation was less lit up than my previous observation with the full moon.
From my vantage point, I noticed a slight shadow forming on the right side of the moon. The altitude dropped by 13 degrees from the previous observation, while the azimuth increased by 13 degrees. Observation 4 took place exactly 1 hour and 11 minutes before the moon rose. Questions 5-8 relate to my initial September 24, 2012 sighting of the moon. During this time, I observed that it was in a waxing gibbous phase, meaning roughly half of the moon was lit up and half remained dark.
During my observations, I noticed a cycle in the appearance of the moon. It started small and gradually grew until it became a full moon. However, it then began to decrease in size again. It’s important to note that the actual size of the moon remains constant, but its perceived size changes depending on the amount of light or darkness visible.
I also observed interesting patterns in the moon’s position in the sky. In the first two observations, its altitude increased by 10 degrees and then slightly decreased by 1 degree. After that, there was an increase of 11 degrees followed by a decrease of 13 degrees in the last observation. Similarly, its azimuth (horizontal angle) decreased by 10 degrees from the first to second observation, then increased by 1 degree. From the third to fourth observation, it continued to increase by 11 degrees and finally increased by 13 degrees from fourth to fifth observation – reflecting similar changes seen in altitude.
Throughout the observations, the moon’s altitude decreased by 15 degrees and its azimuth increased by 13 degrees, moving from East to West. Additionally, each day the moon rose later than the previous day. The first observation recorded a moon rise time of 3:24 p.m., which then increased to 4:40 p.m. on the second day, indicating a difference of 1 hour and 24 minutes in rise time. This pattern continued with further increases in rise time between subsequent observations. From the second to third observation, there was an additional increase of 1 hour and 5 minutes, occurring at 5:45 p.m. Similar increases were observed between the third and fourth as well as fourth and fifth observations, with respective differences of 1 hour and 5 minutes followed by an additional difference of 1 hour and11 minutes. In total, there was a difference of4 hoursand37 minutes inthe moon’srise time between the first and last observations.
Ultimately, this project has enhanced my understanding of various patterns in lunar rising behavior,daily appearance,and their impact on visibility.
Studying the moon and observing its daily changes was a pleasurable and educational experience for me. While it is not something I do regularly, I believe more people should dedicate time to observing celestial bodies in the sky. There are only a few visible without assistance. One important lesson I learned from this is that after a full moon, the lunar size gradually decreases and darkness starts to prevail over perceived light.
