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The English proper name for Earth's natural satellite is typically written as Moon, with a capital M. [19] [20] The noun moon is derived from Old English mōna, which stems from Proto-Germanic *mēnōn, [21] which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *mēnsis 'month' [22] (from earlier *mēnōt, genitive *mēneses) which may be related to the verb 'measure' (of time).
Around this time, the Moon's declination will vary from −28°36′ to +28°36′. Conversely, 9.3 years later, the angle between the Moon's orbit and Earth's equator reaches its minimum of 18°20′. This is called a minor lunar standstill. The last lunar standstill was a minor standstill in October 2015.
A full moon sinking behind San Gorgonio Mountain, California, on a midsummer morning. Moonrise and moonset are times when the upper limb of the Moon appears above the horizon and disappears below it, respectively. The exact times depend on the lunar phase and declination, as well as the observer's location.
Why full moons in the night sky are worth viewing, how they got their names and other interesting lunar facts. Your guide to full moons for 2024: Supermoons, solstices, equinoxes and more Skip to ...
18th: First quarter Moon close to Jupiter in the evening sky. 20th: Moon near Pleiades star cluster in the evening sky. 24th: Moon near bright star Pollux in Gemini in the evening sky. 25th: Full ...
The lunar nodes are the two points where the Moon's orbital path crosses the ecliptic, the Sun's apparent yearly path on the celestial sphere.. A lunar node is either of the two orbital nodes of the Moon; that is, the two points at which the orbit of the Moon intersects the ecliptic.
At this location the selenographic colongitude at sunrise is defined as 0°. Thus, by the time of the Full Moon the colongitude increases to 90°; at Last Quarter it is 180°, and at the New Moon the colongitude reaches 270°. Note that the Moon is nearly invisible from the Earth at New Moon phase except during a solar eclipse.
This range is enough to bring the Moon's altitude at culmination from high in the sky to low above the horizon in just two weeks (half an orbit). Strictly speaking, the lunar standstill is a moving position in the sky relative to the direction of Earth's axis and to the rotation of the Moon's orbital nodes ( lunar nodal precession ) once every ...