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Motion and Phases of the Moon

-- Roger | June 16, 2023

Question:

I live in Colorado I observed that at or near the full moon earlier this month the moon was only 15-20 degrees above the southern horizon and in my 75 years I don’t remember it ever being that low but what really blew me away was that overnight it rose to about 45-50 degrees.! What or how is that possible?

-- Roger

Answer:

What you observed was probably the natural position of the Moon at this point in its regular path through the sky. A very nice interactive graphical depiction of the Moon’s orbit and phases can be found on PBS Learning Media.

-- Jeff Mangum

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