Misplaced Pages

#681318

65-527: The appearance of the Moon (its phase) gradually changes over a lunar month as the relative orbital positions of the Moon around Earth, and Earth around the Sun, shift. The visible side of the Moon is sunlit to varying extents, depending on the position of the Moon in its orbit, with the sunlit portion varying from 0% (at new moon) to nearly 100% (at full moon). There are four principal (primary, or major) lunar phases:

130-589: A Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.946, the tenth-highest in the world as of the 2024 report. New Zealand is also well developed, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$ 48,072 and an HDI of 0.939, putting it at number 16 in the world in 2024. The least developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere cluster in Africa and Oceania, with Mozambique and Burundi at the lowest ends of the HDI, at 0.461 (number 183 in

195-578: A clock for addressing this as an international scientific project. In Pakistan , there is a "Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee" whose head is Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, assisted by 150 observatories of the Pakistan Meteorological Department , which announces the sighting of the new moon. An attempt to unify Muslims on a scientifically calculated worldwide calendar was adopted by both the Fiqh Council of North America and

260-594: A number given to each lunation beginning from a specific one in history. Several conventions are in use. The most commonly used was the Brown Lunation Number (BLN), which defines "lunation 1" as beginning at the first new moon of 1923, the year when Ernest William Brown's lunar theory was introduced in the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac . Lunation 1 occurred at approximately 02:41 UTC , 17 January 1923. With later refinements,

325-436: A total of 30 phases (one per day). As seen from Earth, the Moon's eccentric orbit makes it both slightly change its apparent size, and to be seen from slightly different angles. The effect is subtle to the naked eye, from night to night, yet somewhat obvious in time-lapse photography. Lunar libration causes part of the back side of the Moon to be visible to a terrestrial observer some of the time. Because of this, around 59% of

390-796: A vegetarian diet on the new moon and full moon each month. The new moon is significant in the lunar Hindu calendar . The first day of the calendar starts the day after the dark moon phase ( Amavasya ). There are fifteen moon dates for each of the waxing and waning periods. These fifteen dates are divided evenly into five categories: Nanda, Bhadra', Jaya, Rikta, and Purna, which are cycled through in that order. Nanda dates are considered to be favorable for auspicious works; Bhadra dates for works related to community, social, family, and friends; and Jaya dates for dealing with conflict. Rikta dates are considered beneficial only for works related to cruelty. Purna dates are considered to be favorable for all work. The lunar Hijri calendar has exactly 12 lunar months in

455-487: A year of 354 or 355 days. It has retained an observational definition of the new moon, marking the new month when the first crescent moon is seen, and making it impossible to be certain in advance of when a specific month will begin (in particular, the exact date on which the month of Ramadan will begin is not known in advance). In Saudi Arabia , the new King Abdullah Centre for Crescent Observations and Astronomy in Mecca has

520-547: A year, but only passes between the Earth and Sun 12.4 times. It might be expected that once every month, when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun during a new moon, its shadow would fall on Earth causing a solar eclipse , but this does not happen every month. Nor is it true that during every full moon, the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon, causing a lunar eclipse . Solar and lunar eclipses are not observed every month because

585-409: Is a small fraction of a month . It does not have any obvious effect on the appearance of the Moon. It does however affect accurate calculations of the times of lunar phases. It can be confusing that the Moon's orbital sidereal period is 27.3 days while the phases complete a cycle once every 29.5 days (synodic period). This is due to the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The Moon orbits the Earth 13.4 times

650-400: Is about 2 degrees different from the line of sight of an observer who sees the Moon on the western horizon . The Moon moves about 12 degrees around its orbit per day, so, if these observers were stationary, they would see the phases of the Moon at times that differ by about one-sixth of a day, or 4 hours. But in reality, the observers are on the surface of the rotating Earth, so someone who sees

715-600: Is dark, the Moon is becoming darker; if the right side is lit, the Moon is getting brighter.) In the Southern Hemisphere , the Moon is observed from a perspective inverted, or rotated 180°, to that of the Northern and to all of the images in this article, so that the opposite sides appear to wax or wane. Closer to the Equator , the lunar terminator will appear horizontal during the morning and evening. Since

SECTION 10

#1732776157682

780-479: Is dark, then the bright part is thickening, and the Moon is described as waxing (shifting toward full moon). If the right side of the Moon is dark, then the bright part is thinning, and the Moon is described as waning (past full and shifting toward new moon). Assuming that the viewer is in the Northern Hemisphere, the right side of the Moon is the part that is always waxing. (That is, if the right side

845-811: Is from June to August (inclusive). September 22 or 23 is the vernal equinox and March 20 or 21 is the autumnal equinox. The South Pole is in the centre of the southern hemispherical region. Southern Hemisphere climates tend to be slightly milder than those at similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere , except in the Antarctic which is colder than the Arctic . This is because the Southern Hemisphere has significantly more ocean and much less land; water heats up and cools down more slowly than land. The differences are also attributed to oceanic heat transfer and differing extents of greenhouse trapping. In

910-483: Is mostly concentrated on/around the islands of Bali , Mauritius , and Fiji . The oldest continuously inhabited city in the Southern Hemisphere is Bogor , in western Java , which was founded in 669 . Ancient texts from the Hindu kingdoms prevalent in the area definitively record 669 CE as the year when Bogor was founded. However, some evidence shows that Zanzibar , an ancient port with around 200,000 inhabitants off

975-648: Is native to Australia but is now also planted in Southern Africa and Latin America for pulp production, and increasingly, biofuel uses. One of the most notable animals to be found almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere is the penguin . A species is found around Isabela Island on the Galápagos archipelago in the Pacific Ocean , which straddles the equator. However, most of Isabela and

1040-429: Is the first recorded to have used the former method; Chinese calendar uses the latter, despite delaying its start until the second or even third new moon after the solstice. The Hindu calendar , also a lunisolar calendar, further divides the month into two fourteen day periods that mark the waxing moon and the waning moon. The ancient Roman calendar was broadly a lunisolar one; on the decree of Julius Caesar in

1105-450: Is the period from one new moon to the next. At the J2000.0 epoch, the average length of a lunation is 29.53059 days (or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds). However, the length of any one synodic month can vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days (12.96 hours) due to the perturbing effects of the Sun's gravity on the Moon's eccentric orbit . The Lunation Number or Lunation Cycle is

1170-771: The Age of Discovery , the Southern Hemisphere was largely cut off from the cultural constructs of the Western and Eastern worlds . Some view both the West and the East as being Northern Hemisphere-centric concepts. The most widespread religions in the modern Southern Hemisphere are Christianity , prevalent in South America, Africa, Oceania, and East Timor , followed by Islam in East Africa and Indonesia , and Hinduism , which

1235-650: The Baháʼí Faith , effective from 2015 onwards, the " Twin Holy Birthdays ", refer to two successive holy days in the Baháʼí calendar (the birth of the Báb and the birth of Bahá'u'lláh ), will be observed on the first and the second day following the occurrence of the eighth new moon after Naw-Rúz (Baháʼí New Year), as determined in advance by astronomical tables using Tehran as the point of reference. This will result in

1300-506: The European Council for Fatwa and Research in 2007. The new calculation requires that conjunction must occur before sunset in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and that, on the same evening, the moonset must take place after sunset. These can be precisely calculated and therefore a unified calendar is possible should it become adopted worldwide. The Baháʼí calendar is a solar calendar with certain new moons observed as moveable feasts . In

1365-559: The Hebrew calendar . In the Chinese calendar , the beginning of the month is marked by the last visible crescent of a waning Moon. The astronomical new moon occurs by definition at the moment of conjunction in ecliptical longitude with the Sun when the Moon is invisible from the Earth. This moment is unique and does not depend on location, and in certain circumstances, it coincides with a solar eclipse . A lunation , or synodic month ,

SECTION 20

#1732776157682

1430-452: The Julian day number of one from that of the other, or there are simpler formulae giving (for instance) the number of days since 31 December 1899. However, this calculation assumes a perfectly circular orbit and makes no allowance for the time of day at which the new moon occurred and therefore may be incorrect by several hours. (It also becomes less accurate the larger the difference between

1495-481: The Norte Chico civilization and Casma–Sechin culture from the northern coast of Peru. These civilizations built cities, pyramids, and plazas in the coastal river valleys of northern Peru with some ruins dating back to 3600 BCE . Easter Island , located about 3,500 kilometres from Chile and French Polynesia , is considered to be the most remote place on Earth to have been permanently inhabited by humans before

1560-449: The new moon is the first lunar phase , when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude . At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye , except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse . The original meaning of the term 'new moon', which is still sometimes used in calendrical , non-astronomical contexts, is the first visible crescent of

1625-457: The new moon , first quarter, full moon , and last quarter (also known as third or final quarter), when the Moon's ecliptic longitude is at an angle to the Sun (as viewed from the center of the Earth) of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270° respectively. Each of these phases appears at slightly different times at different locations on Earth, and tabulated times are therefore always geocentric (calculated for

1690-427: The (first crescent) new moon. Southern Hemisphere The Southern Hemisphere is the half ( hemisphere ) of Earth that is south of the Equator . It contains all or parts of five continents (the whole of Antarctica , the whole of Australia , about 90% of South America , about one-third of Africa , and some islands off the continental mainland of Asia ) and four oceans (the whole Southern Ocean ,

1755-843: The Age of Discovery. It was settled by a Polynesian group known as the Rapa Nui . Areas of the Southern Hemisphere that had no contact with humans before the Age of Discovery include Christmas Island and Mauritius (in the Indian Ocean ), the Galápagos Islands , Juan Fernández Islands and Lord Howe Island (in the South Pacific), the Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha (in the South Atlantic ) and

1820-592: The BLN was used in almanacs until 1983. A more recent lunation number (called the Lunation Number) was introduced by Jean Meeus in 1998. defines lunation 0 as beginning on the first new moon of 2000 (this occurred at approximately 18:14 UTC , 6 January 2000). The formula relating Meeus's Lunation Number with the Brown Lunation Number is BLN = LN + 953. The Goldstine Lunation Number refers to

1885-405: The Earth's center). Between the principal phases are intermediate phases, during which the apparent shape of the illuminated Moon is either crescent or gibbous . On average, the intermediate phases last one-quarter of a synodic month , or 7.38 days. The term waxing is used for an intermediate phase when the Moon's apparent shape is thickening, from new to a full moon; and waning when

1950-497: The Islamic Hijri calendar ) rely completely on this metric. The fact, however, that a year of twelve lunar months is ten or eleven days shorter than the solar year means that a lunar calendar drifts out of step with the seasons. Lunisolar calendars resolve this issue with a year of thirteen lunar months every few years, or by restarting the count at the first new (or full) moon after the winter solstice . The Sumerian calendar

2015-488: The Moon after conjunction with the Sun. This thin waxing crescent is briefly and faintly visible as the Moon gets lower in the western sky after sunset . The precise time and even the date of the appearance of the new moon by this definition will be influenced by the geographical location of the observer. The first crescent marks the beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar and in some lunisolar calendars such as

Lunar phase - Misplaced Pages Continue

2080-466: The Moon in the sky, the crescent opens downward; when the Moon is above the Sun, the crescent opens upward . The crescent Moon is most clearly and brightly visible when the Sun is below the horizon, which implies that the Moon must be above the Sun, and the crescent must open upward. This is therefore the orientation in which the crescent Moon is most often seen from the tropics. The waxing and waning crescents look very similar. The waxing crescent appears in

2145-520: The Moon moves from right to left during solar eclipses. The Coriolis effect causes cyclones and tropical storms to spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, as opposed to anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The southern temperate zone , a subsection of the Southern Hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic. The Sagittarius constellation that includes the galactic centre is a southern constellation as well as both Magellanic Clouds . This, combined with clearer skies, makes for excellent viewing of

2210-414: The Moon on the eastern horizon at one moment sees it on the western horizon about 12 hours later. This adds an oscillation to the apparent progression of the lunar phases. They appear to occur more slowly when the Moon is high in the sky than when it is below the horizon. The Moon appears to move jerkily, and the phases do the same. The amplitude of this oscillation is never more than about four hours, which

2275-469: The Moon's surface has been imaged from the ground. When the Sun and Moon are aligned on the same side of the Earth (conjunct), the Moon is "new", and the side of the Moon facing Earth is not illuminated by the Sun. As the Moon waxes (the amount of illuminated surface as seen from Earth increases), the lunar phases progress through the new moon, crescent moon, first-quarter moon, gibbous moon, and full moon phases. The Moon then wanes as it passes through

2340-408: The Southern Hemisphere include Bali , Buenos Aires , Cape Town , Easter Island , Lima , Rio de Janeiro , Sydney and Tahiti . According to a 2017 report, the most popular Southern Hemisphere " bucket list " destinations among Australians were Antarctica , New Zealand , the Galápagos Islands , South Africa and Peru . Quito, Ecuador is the closest major city to the equatorial line on

2405-792: The Southern Hemisphere include São Paulo , where the B3 (stock exchange) is headquartered, along with Sydney, home to the Australian Securities Exchange , Jakarta, the seat of the Indonesia Stock Exchange , Johannesburg , home to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange , and Buenos Aires, headquarters of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange , the oldest stock market in the Southern Hemisphere. Common tourist destinations in

2470-472: The Southern Hemisphere, the Sun passes from east to west through the north, although north of the Tropic of Capricorn the mean Sun can be directly overhead or due south at midday. The Sun follows a right-to-left trajectory through the northern sky unlike the left-to-right motion of the Sun when seen from the Northern Hemisphere as it passes through the southern sky. Sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise throughout

2535-404: The above descriptions of the lunar phases only apply at middle or high latitudes , observers moving towards the tropics from northern or southern latitudes will see the Moon rotated anti-clockwise or clockwise with respect to the images in this article. The lunar crescent can open upward or downward, with the "horns" of the crescent pointing up or down, respectively. When the Sun appears above

2600-508: The annual seasons by setting the new moon of Aviv , the barley ripening , or spring , as the first moon and head of the year. Since the Babylonian captivity , this month is called Nisan , and it is calculated based on mathematical rules designed to ensure that festivals are observed in their traditional season. Passover always falls in the springtime. This fixed lunisolar calendar follows rules introduced by Hillel II and refined until

2665-524: The coast of Tanzania , may be older than Bogor. A Greco-Roman text written between 1 and 100 CE , the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , mentioned the island of Menuthias ( Ancient Greek : Μενουθιάς) as a trading port on the east African coast, which is probably the small Tanzanian island of Unguja on which Zanzibar is located. The oldest monumental civilizations in the Southern Hemisphere are

Lunar phase - Misplaced Pages Continue

2730-534: The day and sundials have the hours increasing in the anticlockwise direction. During solar eclipses viewed from a point to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the Moon moves from left to right on the disc of the Sun (see, for example, photos with timings of the solar eclipse of November 13, 2012 ), while viewed from a point to the north of the Tropic of Cancer (i.e., in the Northern Hemisphere),

2795-571: The first century BCE, Rome changed to a solar calendar of twelve months, each of a fixed number of days except in a leap year . This, the Julian calendar (slightly revised in 1582 to correct the leap year rule), is the basis for the Gregorian calendar that is almost exclusively the civil calendar in use worldwide today. Each of the four intermediate phases lasts approximately seven days (7.38 days on average), but varies ±11.25% due to lunar apogee and perigee . The number of days counted from

2860-563: The first day of the month of Muharram , which occurred in 622  CE (15 July, Julian, in the proleptic reckoning). It can be calculated using ILN = LN + 17038. The Thai Lunation Number is called "มาสเกณฑ์" (Maasa-Kendha), defines lunation 0 as the beginning of Burmese era of the Buddhist calendar on Sunday, 22 March 638 CE. It can be calculated using TLN = LN + 16843. The new moon, in Hebrew Rosh Chodesh , signifies

2925-424: The gibbous moon, third-quarter moon, and crescent moon phases, before returning back to new moon. The terms old moon and new moon are not interchangeable. The "old moon" is a waning sliver (which eventually becomes undetectable to the naked eye) until the moment it aligns with the Sun and begins to wax, at which point it becomes new again. Half moon is often used to mean the first- and third-quarter moons, while

2990-402: The half-circle, then the shape will be gibbous (bulging outwards), whereas if the half-ellipse is concave with respect to the half-circle, then the shape will be a crescent . When a crescent moon occurs, the phenomenon of earthshine may be apparent, where the night side of the Moon dimly reflects indirect sunlight reflected from Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere , if the left side of the Moon

3055-459: The intersection of Earth's orbital plane about the Sun and the Moon's orbital plane about the Earth (that is, at one of its nodes ). This happens about twice per year, and so there are between four and seven eclipses in a calendar year. Most of these eclipses are partial; total eclipses of the Moon or Sun are less frequent. The phases are not caused by the Earth's shadow falling on the moon, as some people believe. New moon In astronomy ,

3120-516: The largest country by land area in the Southern Hemisphere, while more than 150 million live in Java , the most populous island in the world. The most populous country in the Southern Hemisphere is Indonesia , with 275 million people (roughly 30 million of whom live north of the Equator on the northern portions of the islands of Sumatra , Borneo , and Sulawesi , as well as most of North Maluku , while

3185-502: The lunation numbering used by Herman Goldstine , with lunation 0 beginning on 11 January 1001 BCE, and can be calculated using GLN = LN + 37105. The Hebrew Lunation Number is the count of lunations in the Hebrew calendar with lunation 1 beginning on 6 October 3761 BCE. It can be calculated using HLN = LN + 71234. The Islamic Lunation Number is the count of lunations in the Islamic Calendar with lunation 1 as beginning on

3250-751: The majority of the Indian Ocean , the South Atlantic Ocean , and the South Pacific Ocean ), as well as New Zealand and most of the Pacific Islands in Oceania . Its surface is 80.9% water, compared with 60.7% water in the Northern Hemisphere , and it contains 32.7% of Earth's land. Owing to the tilt of Earth's rotation relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane , summer is from December to February (inclusive) and winter

3315-483: The new moon's arms" or "the new moon in the old moon's arms". Archaeologists have reconstructed methods of timekeeping that go back to prehistoric times, at least as old as the Neolithic . The natural units for timekeeping used by most historical societies are the day , the solar year and the lunation . The first crescent of the new moon provides a clear and regular marker in time and pure lunar calendars (such as

SECTION 50

#1732776157682

3380-401: The night sky from the Southern Hemisphere with brighter and more numerous stars. Forests in the Southern Hemisphere have special features which set them apart from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Both Chile and Australia share, for example, unique beech species or Nothofagus , and New Zealand has members of the closely related genera Lophozonia and Fuscospora . The eucalyptus

3445-449: The ninth century. This calculation makes use of a mean lunation length used by Ptolemy and handed down from Babylonians , which is still very accurate: ca. 29.530594 days vs. a present value (see below ) of 29.530589 days. This difference of only 0.000005, or five millionths of a day, adds up to about only four hours since Babylonian times. The new moon is the beginning of the month in the Chinese calendar . Some Buddhist Chinese keep

3510-594: The observance of the Twin Birthdays moving, year to year, from mid-October to mid-November according to the Gregorian calendar. Easter , the most important feast in the Christian liturgical calendar , is a movable feast . The date of Easter is determined by reference to the ecclesiastical full moon , which, being historically difficult to determine with precision, is defined as being fourteen days after

3575-413: The plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth is tilted by about 5° with respect to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun (the plane of the ecliptic ). Thus, when new and full moons occur, the Moon usually lies to the north or south of a direct line through the Earth and Sun. Although an eclipse can only occur when the Moon is either new (solar) or full (lunar), it must also be positioned very near

3640-481: The planet, and Ushuaia, Argentina claims the title of world's southernmost city. Cape Town, Christchurch , Hobart , Punta Arenas and Ushuaia are officially acknowledged as the five international Antarctic gateway cities that serve as primary entry points for travel to the Antarctic region. Among the most developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere is Australia, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$ 63,487 and

3705-426: The required date and the reference date.) It is accurate enough to use in a novelty clock application showing lunar phase, but specialist usage taking account of lunar apogee and perigee requires a more elaborate calculation. The Earth subtends an angle of about two degrees when seen from the Moon. This means that an observer on Earth who sees the Moon when it is close to the eastern horizon sees it from an angle that

3770-694: The rest of the archipelago is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is deemed by the International Hydrographic Organization as being wholly within the South Pacific Ocean, rather than the North Pacific. More than 850 million people live in the Southern Hemisphere, representing around 10–12% of the total global human population. Of those 850 million people, more than 203 million live in Brazil ,

3835-1057: The rest of the population lives in the Southern Hemisphere). Portuguese is the most spoken language in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 230 million speakers in six countries – mostly in Brazil, but also in Angola , Mozambique , East Timor , and small parts of Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe that lie south of the Equator . Among the largest metropolitan areas in the Southern Hemisphere are Jakarta (34 million people), São Paulo (22 million), Kinshasa-Brazzaville (19 million), Buenos Aires (16 million), Rio de Janeiro (12 million), Johannesburg , Lima (11 million each), Surabaya (10 million), Bandung (9 million), Luanda (8 million), Dar es Salaam , Santiago (7 million each), Belo Horizonte , Semarang (6 million each), Sydney , Melbourne and Cape Town (5 million each). Important financial and commercial centres in

3900-418: The shape is thinning. The duration from full moon to new moon (or new moon to full moon) varies from approximately 13 days 22 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours to about 15 days 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours . Due to lunar motion relative to the meridian and the ecliptic , in Earth's northern hemisphere : Non-Western cultures may use a different number of lunar phases; for example, traditional Hawaiian culture has

3965-508: The start of every Hebrew month and is considered an important date and minor holiday in the Hebrew calendar . The modern form of the calendar practiced in Judaism is a rule-based lunisolar calendar , akin to the Chinese calendar , measuring months defined in lunar cycles as well as years measured in solar cycles, and distinct from the purely lunar Islamic calendar and the predominantly solar Gregorian calendar . The Jewish months are fixed to

SECTION 60

#1732776157682

4030-423: The term quarter refers to the extent of the Moon's cycle around the Earth, not its shape. When an illuminated hemisphere is viewed from a certain angle, the portion of the illuminated area that is visible will have a two-dimensional shape as defined by the intersection of an ellipse and circle (in which the ellipse's major axis coincides with the circle's diameter). If the half-ellipse is convex with respect to

4095-449: The time of the new moon is the Moon's "age". Each complete cycle of phases is called a " lunation ". The approximate age of the Moon, and hence the approximate phase, can be calculated for any date by calculating the number of days since a known new moon (such as 1 January 1900 or 11 August 1999) and reducing this modulo 29.53059 days (the mean length of a synodic month ). The difference between two dates can be calculated by subtracting

4160-506: The western sky in the evening, and the waning crescent in the eastern sky in the morning. When the Moon (seen from Earth) is a thin crescent , Earth (as viewed from the Moon) is almost fully lit by the Sun. Often, the dark side of the Moon is dimly illuminated by indirect sunlight reflected from Earth, but is bright enough to be easily visible from Earth. This phenomenon is called earthshine , sometimes picturesquely described as "the old moon in

4225-529: The world) and 0.420 (number 187 in the world), respectively. The nominal GDPs per capita of these two countries do not go above US$ 650, a tiny fraction of the incomes enjoyed by Australians and New Zealanders. The Southern Hemisphere has long been secondary in the global distribution of demographic, economic and political power, as it has less land than the Northern Hemisphere. In recent times, however, countries such as Australia have made greater efforts to economically engage with those from their hemisphere. Before

#681318