Record-setting young moon for North America?
Discuss Print Me Email to FriendTonight is Monday, May 05 2008
On today’s radio show, we learn that it’s possible to see the youngest of young moons from North America at evening dusk today. In eastern Canada, observers might even see a young moon less than 12 hours after new moon. Anyone spotting the crescent before the moon turns 11 hours and 40 minutes old will set a young moon sighting record.
What conditions create young moon visibility? First of all, it has to be springtime, because that’s when the crescent hovers most directly above the sun at sunset. (In autumn, the crescent lurks to the side of the setting sun.) Theoretically, the moon has to stand 7.5 degrees directly above the sun at sunset to be visible with an optical aid.
Other factors are at play. The moon is especially close to Earth right now. When the moon comes closest to Earth, the moon goes most swiftly in its orbit. Thus, after today’s new moon, the moon flees from the sun in the quickest possible time. What’s more, the moon is at its farthest distance north of the Earth’s orbital plane, which causes the moon to set all that much later in the northern hemisphere, yet earlier in the southern hemisphere.
