Moonrise

Moonrise is the first appearance of the Moon over the Earth's horizon. The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth,[d][7] and the fifth largest object in the Solar System not in direct orbit around the Sun. It is the largest natural satellite of a planet in the Solar System relative to the size of itsprimary,[e] having 27% the diameter and 60% the density of Earth, resulting in 181 its mass. Among satellites with known densities, the Moon is the second densest, after Io, a satellite of Jupiter. The Moon is unique among natural satellites in that it experiences a stronger gravitational attraction to the Sun than to its primary, the Earth. As a consequence, its path is always concave to the Sun. It can be argued that this makes the Moon a planet, orbiting the Sun, rather than a satellite of the Earth. Usually, it is considered to be in orbit around the Earth, but its orbit is substantially distorted from a simple elliptical shape by the gravity of the Sun, which includes a tidal gradient which causes the Moon to be attracted less strongly in the direction of the Earth at Full and New Moon than at the quarter phases (in a frame of reference in which the Earth is stationary). This perturbs the orbit so as to make its curvature more acute in the directions of the quarter phases than elsewhere. If the orbit were otherwise circular, this perturbation would make it approximately elliptical, with its major axis lying along the direction of the Earth's motion around the Sun. The Earth would be at the centre of this ellipse, rather than at one of its foci. In reality, this perturbation is superimposed on the elliptical orbit of the Moon, rotating with the seasons. The Moon's motion is therefore quite complex, and can be calculated only very approximately by assuming the orbit to be an ellipse. Likewise, the parameters of the orbit, eccentricity, semimajor axis, etc., can be stated only as approximate averages. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, always showing the same face with its near side marked by dark volcanic maria that fill between the bright ancient crustal highlands and the prominent impact craters. It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, although its surface is actually very dark, with a reflectance similar to that of coal. Its prominence in the sky and its regular cycle of phases have, since ancient times, made the Moon an important cultural influence on language, calendars, art and mythology. The Moon's gravitational influence produces the ocean tides and the minute lengthening of the day. The Moon's current orbital distance, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth, causes it to appear almost the same size in the sky as the Sun, allowing it to cover the Sun nearly precisely in total solar eclipses. This matching of apparent visual size is a coincidence. The Moon's linear distance from the Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.820.07cm per year, but this rate is not constant.[8]

The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth with respect to the fixed stars about once every 27.3 days[g] (its sidereal period). However, since the Earth is moving in its orbit about the Sun at the same time, it takes slightly longer for the Moon to show the same phase to Earth, which is about 29.5 days[h] (its synodic period).[46] Unlike most satellites of other planets, the Moon orbits nearer theecliptic plane than to the planet's equatorial plane. The Moon's orbit is subtly perturbed by the Sun and Earth in many small, complex and interacting ways. For example, the plane of the Moon's orbital motion gradually rotates, which affects other aspects of lunar motion. These follow-on effects are mathematically described by Cassini's laws.[91]

The highest altitude of the Moon in the sky varies: while it has nearly the same limit as the Sun, it alters with the lunar phase and with the season of the year, with the full moon highest during winter. The 18.6-year nodes cycle also has an influence: when the ascending node of the lunar orbit is in the vernal equinox, the lunardeclination can go as far as 28 each month. This means the Moon can go overhead at latitudes up to 28 from the equator, instead of only 18. The orientation of the Moon's crescent also depends on the latitude of the observation site: close to the equator, an observer can see a smileshaped crescent Moon.[98] The distance between the Moon and the Earth varies from around 356,400 km to 406,700 km at the extreme perigees (closest) and apogees (farthest). On 19 March 2011, it was closer to the Earth while at

full phase than it has been since 1993.[99] Reported as a "super moon", this closest point coincides within an hour of a full moon, and it thus appeared 30 percent brighter, and 14 percent larger in diameter than when at its greatest distance.[100][101][102] There has been historical controversy over whether features on the Moon's surface change over time. Today, many of these claims are thought to be illusory, resulting from observation under different lighting conditions, poor astronomical seeing, or inadequate drawings. However, outgassing does occasionally occur, and could be responsible for a minor percentage of the reported lunar transient phenomena. Recently, it has been suggested that a roughly 3 km diameter region of the lunar surface was modified by a gas release event about a million years ago.[103][104] The Moon's appearance, like that of the Sun, can be affected by Earth's atmosphere: common effects are a 22 halo ring formed when the Moon's light is refracted through the ice crystals of high cirrostratus cloud, and smaller coronal rings when the Moon is seen through thin clouds.[105]

New moon
In astronomy, new moon is the first phase of the Moon, when it lies closest to the Sun in the sky as seen from the Earth. More precisely, it is the instant when the Moon and the Sun have the same ecliptical longitude. [1] The Moon is not normally visible at this time except when it is seen in silhouette during a solar eclipse. See the article on phases of the Moon for further details. The original meaning of the phrase new moon was the first visible crescent of the Moon, after conjunction with the Sun. This takes place over the western horizon in a brief period between sunset and moonset, and therefore 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 astronomical new moon, sometimes known as the dark moon to avoid confusion, 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. The new moon in its original meaning of first crescent marks the beginning of the month in lunar calendars such as the Muslim calendar, and in lunisolar calendars such as the Hebrew calendar, Hindu calendars, and Buddhist calendar. But in the Chinese calendar, the beginning of the month is marked by the dark moon.

The new moon is quite significant in Hindu calendar. People generally wait for new moon to start new works. Waxing period of moon is considered good for all good works. Fifteen Moon dates each for waxing and waning period are there. Fifteen dates are classified in five categories, namely Nanda, Bhadra, Jaya, Rikta and Purna and three rotations of these five categories are there. The category rotation starts from first date of moon ending at fifth date and then starting at sixth date and so on. Nanda dates come on First, Sixth and Eleventh moon date, same can be known about others. Nanda dates are good for auspicious works. Bhadra dates can be good for works related with community, social, family, friends. Jaya dates are good where we need to deal with some conflict. Rikta dates are not considered much good and do

good for works related with cruelty. Purna dates are good for every work. The first day of the Lunar Hindu calender starts the day after the no moon day(Amavasya). Hindu astrology considers amavasya as powerful, either good or bad. The Hundi epic, Mahabharatha states that the Kurukshetra war started on the Amavasya day that too on a Tudesay (Mangalvaar, day of the week named after Mars).

The Islamic calendar has retained an observational definition of the new moon, marking the new month when the first crescent moon is actually seen, and making it impossible to be certain in advance of when a specific month will begin (in particular, the exact date on which Ramadan will begin is not known in advance). In Saudi Arabia, if the weather is cloudy when the new moon is expected, observers are sent up in airplanes.[citation needed] In Pakistan, there is a "Central Ruet-eHilal Committee" whose head is Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, which takes help from 150 observatories of the Pakistan Meteorological Department all over the country and announces the decision of sighting of new moon. But for the last 25 years, status of the "Central Ruet-eHilal Committee" has been very much controversial, as Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman always use to refuse the "Witnesses" (Shahadats) from other sects. In Iran a special committee receives observations of every new moon to determine the beginning of each month. This committee uses one hundred groups of observers.

An attempt to unify Muslims on a scientifically calculated worldwide calendar was adopted by both the Fiqh Council of North America and the European Council for Fatwa and Research in 2007. The new calculation requires that conjunction occur before sunset in Mecca, Saudi Arabia and that moon set on the following day must take place after sunset. These can be precisely calculated and therefore a unified calendar is imminent if it becomes adopted worldwide.[2][3]

The new moon is the beginning of the month in the Chinese calendar. Some Buddhist Chinese keep a vegetarian diet on the new moon and full moon each month. The new moon signifies the start of every Jewish month, and is considered an important date and minor holiday in the Hebrew calendar. The modern form of the calendar is a rulebased 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 almost entirely solar Gregorian calendar. According to Jewish tradition, the Jewish calendar is calculated based on mathematical rules handed down from God to Moses at the moment the command was given to make sure that Passover always falls in the springtime. More likely, this fixed lunisolar calendar was introduced by Hillel II. This calculation makes use of a mean lunation length used by Ptolemy and handed down from Babylonians (see Lunar_theory#Babylon), which is still very accurate: ca. 29.530594 days vs. a present value (see below) of 29.530589 days. This difference of only 0.0000005, or five millionths of a day, adds up to about only 4 hours since Babylonian times.

The messianic Pentecostal group, the New Israelites of Peru, keeps the new moon as a Sabbath of rest. As an evangelical church, it follows the Bible's teachings that God sanctified the seventhday Sabbath, and the new moons in addition to it. See Ezekiel 46:1, 3. No work may be done from dusk until dusk, and the services run for 11 hours, although a large number spend 24 hours within the gates of the temples, sleeping and singing praises throughout the night.[citation needed] The new moon is also important in astrology, as is the full moon.

Determining new moons: an approximate formula

The time interval between new moonsa lunationis variable. The mean time between new moons, the synodic month, is about 29.53... days. An approximate formula to compute the mean moments of new moon (conjunction between Sun and Moon) for successive months is:

where N is an integer, starting with 0 for the first new moon in the year 2000, and that is incremented by 1 for each successive synodic month; and the result d is the number of days (and fractions) since 2000-01-01 00:00:00 reckoned in the time scale known as Terrestrial Time (TT) used in ephemerides. To obtain this moment expressed in Universal Time (UT, world clock time), add the result of following approximate correction to the result d obtained above: days Periodic perturbations change the time of true conjunction from these mean values. For all new moons between 1601 and 2401, the maximum difference is 0.592 days = 14h13m in either direction. The duration of a lunation (i.e. the time from new moon to the next new moon) varies in this period between 29.272 and 29.833 days, i.e. 0.259d = 6h12m shorter, or +0.302d = 7h15m [4][5] longer than average. This range is smaller than the difference between mean and true conjunction, because during one lunation the periodic terms cannot all change to their maximum opposite value. See the article on the full moon cycle for a fairly simple method to compute the moment of new moon more accurately. The long-term error of the formula is approximately: 1 cy seconds in TT, and 11 cy seconds in UT (cy is centuries since 2000; see section Explanation of the formulaefor details.)
2 2

Explanation of the formula[edit]

The moment of mean conjunction can easily be computed from an expression for the mean ecliptical longitude of the Moon minus the mean ecliptical longitude of the Sun (Delauney parameter D). Jean Meeus gave formulae to compute this in his popular Astronomical Formulae for Calculators based on the ephemerides of Brown and Newcomb (ca. 1900); and in his 1st [6] [7] edition of Astronomical Algorithms based on the ELP2000-85 (the 2nd edition uses ELP200082 with improved expressions from Chapront et al. in 1998). These are now outdated: [8] Chapront et al. (2002) published improved parameters.

Also Meeus's formula uses a fractional variable to allow computation of the four main phases, and uses a second variable for the secular terms. For the convenience of the reader, the formula given above is based on Chapront's latest parameters and expressed with a single integer variable, and the following additional terms have been added: constant term: Like Meeus, apply the constant terms of the aberration of light for the Sun's motion and light[9] time correction for the Moon to obtain the apparent difference in ecliptical longitudes:
[10] [11] [12]

Sun: +20.496"

Moon: 0.704"

Correction in conjunction: 0.000451 days 0.000739 days. quadratic term:

For UT: at 1 January 2000, T (= TT UT ) was +63.83 s; hence the correction for the clock time UT = TT T of the conjunction is:

[13]

In ELP200085 (see Chapront et alii 1988), D has a quadratic term of 2 5.8681"T ; expressed in lunations N, this yields a correction of 12 2 [14] +87.40310 N days to the time of conjunction. The term includes 2 a tidal contribution of 0.5(23.8946 "/cy ). The most current estimate from Lunar Laser Ranging for the acceleration is (see Chapront et alii 2002): 2 (25.858 0.003)"/cy . Therefore the new quadratic term of D is = 2 [15] 6.8498"T . Indeed the polynomial provided by Chapront et alii(2002) provides the same value (their Table 4). This translates to a correction of 12 2 +14.62210 N days to the time of conjunction; the quadratic term now is:

+102.02610

12

N days. For UT: analysis of historical observations show that T has a long2 [16] [17] term increase of +31 s/cy . Converted to days and lunations, the correction from ET to UT becomes:

23510

12

N days. The theoretical tidal contribution to T is about +42 s/cy the smaller observed value is thought to be mostly due to changes in the [19] shape of the Earth. Because the discrepancy is not fully explained, uncertainty of our prediction of UT (rotation angle of the Earth) may be 2 as large as the difference between these values: 11 s/cy . The error in 2 [20] the position of the Moon itself is only maybe 0.5"/cy , or (because the apparent mean angular velocity of the Moon is about 0.5"/s), 1 2 s/cy in the time of conjunction with the Sun.
2 [18]