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Lecture 2

Moon

Brightest object in the night


sky
While the Sun is
the brightest object
in the sky, the
Moon is the
brightest object in
the night sky.

Lunar deity
Like the Sun, in many prehistoric and
ancient cultures, the Moon was also
personified as a deity or other supernatural
phenomenon.
Depending on the culture, the lunar deities
are often related to or an enemy of the
solar deity.
Lunar deities are usually held to be the
opposite sex of the corresponding solar
deity.
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Female deity
Many of the most
well-known
mythologies feature
female lunar deities.
The monthly cycle of
the moon has been
implicitly linked to
womens menstrual
cycles by many
cultures.
In Greek mythology, Selene is
the goddess of the Moon. She is
the sister of the Sun-god Helios.

Remarkable coincidence
The Moon is actually
much smaller than
the Sun.
The Moon and Sun
both have roughly the
same apparent size
because the Moon is
much closer to Earth
than the Sun. This is
a remarkable
coincidence.

Size comparisons for the Sun,


Jupiter, Earth, and the Moon

Lunar phases
The Moons appearance undergoes a
regular cycle of changes, taking roughly
29.5 days to complete.

The basis of the calendars


The Moons regular phases make it a
very convenient timepiece, and the
periods of its waxing and waning
form the basis of many of the oldest
calendars.

Islamic calendar
In the Islamic calendar, each month
commences on the birth of the new lunar cycle.
It is a lunar calendar.

Each month can have 29 or 30 days.


Traditionally this is based on actual witnessing of
the crescent marking the end of the previous lunar
cycle and hence the previous month thereby
beginning the new month. Consequently, each
month can have 29 or 30 days depending on the
visibility of the moon, astronomical positioning of
the earth and weather conditions.

The year in the Islamic calendar


There are 12 months and hence 354 days in
a year.
The date of a holiday (e.g. Hari Raya Puasa)
in the Western calendar falls approximately
11 days earlier each successive year.
In 2014, Hari Raya Puasa fell on July 28; in 2015,
it fell on July 17.
The date of a holiday is actually the same in the
Islamic calendar, but the year is shorter than the
year in the Western calendar, which has about
365.24 days.
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Western calendar
The mean year is the tropical year,
which has about 365.24 days.
It is a solar calendar.

Since the mean year is the tropical


year, the solstices and equinoxes
(e.g. vernal equinox) fall around the
same dates each year.

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The month in the Western


calendar July 2015
A year is divided into 12
months. Each month
can have 28-31 days.
The timing of the lunar
phases shifts by an
average of almost one
day for each successive
month
The average month has
about 30.4 days, but the
lunar phase cycle repeats
roughly every 29.5 days.
August 2015
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Once in a blue moon


Meaning of the phrase:
once in a very long time
A blue moon is a second
full moon in a month.
The full moon of July 31
this year was a blue moon.
The phrase has nothing to
do with the actual color of
the moon.

A blue moon is rare.


The next blue moon will
only occur on January 31,
2018.

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Chinese calendar
In the Chinese calendar,
the months begin on
the day with the new
moon and end on the
day before the next
new moon.
It is a lunisolar calendar.
In the Chinese calendar,
the date indicates both
the lunar phase and the
time of the tropical year.
In the Chinese calendar, winter
solstice ( ) must occur in
the winter month ( ), which
is the month after the 10th
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month.

The year in the Chinese calendar


The common years have 12 months, but leap
years insert an intercalary month ( ) every
second or third year.
The time from a winter solstice to the next is divided
into 24 solar terms ( ). Among them, 12 are the preclimate terms and 12 are the mid-climate terms ( ).
There is a mid-climate term in each of the 12 months.
Since the interval of time between two consecutive midclimate terms is longer than a month, a month may
miss a mid-climate term. That will be the intercalary
month and it follows the number of the previous month
( , , etc.).

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Chinese New Year


CNY is an important Chinese festival
celebrated at the turn of the Chinese
calendar.
In the Western calendar, CNY falls on
different dates each year, a date between
January 21 and February 20.
In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must
occur in the winter month, which means that
CNY usually falls on the second new moon after
the winter solstice (rarely the third if an
intercalary month intervenes).
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The Moon shines by reflected


sunlight
The Moon emits no
light of its own.
Instead, it shines by
reflected sunlight.

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The Moon orbits around Earth


The Moon is
orbiting around
Earth.
It takes about one
month to complete
one orbit around
Earth.

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Major misconception
Earths shadow is
not the cause of
the lunar phases.

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Half-sunlit Moon
Since the Moon
shines by reflected
sunlight, at any
instant only half of
the Moons surface
is illuminated by
the Sun.
The half-sunlit Moon (and Earth),
as seen from the outer space
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The fraction of the sunlit


side
As the Moon orbits
Earth, the fraction
of the lunar sunlit
side that faces
Earth varies from
night to night.

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Full Moon
When the Sun and
the Moon are in
opposition
directions from
Earth, the entire
lunar sunlit side is
facing Earth.
From Earth, we see
the full Moon.

The full Moon usually rises at


sunset, and sets at sunrise.

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Crescent
When the Moon
and the Sun are in
close directions
from Earth, only a
small fraction of
the lunar sunlit
side is facing Earth.
From Earth, we see
the crescent.

The waxing crescent usually sets


shortly after sunset, while the
waning crescent rises shortly
before sunrise.
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Earthshine
Earthshine is most
readily observable
from shortly before
until shortly after a
new Moon, during the
waxing or waning
crescent phase.
The night side appears
to glow faintly and the
entire orb of the Moon
is dimly visible.
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Reflected sunlight from


Earth
Earthshine occurs
when the Moons
night side is
illuminated by the
reflected sunlight
from Earth.

Wanin
g
cresce
nt
Waxin
g
cresce
nt
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Tides
Most people are familiar with the daily
fluctuation in ocean level.
At most coastal locations on Earth, there are
two low tides and two high tides each day.
The interval of time from one high tide to the
next is about 12 hours and 25 minutes.

The tides are caused by the Moon.


The interval of time from one high tide to the
next is exactly half the interval of time from one
moonrise to the next.
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Gravity
Newtons law of gravity states that every
particle of matter in the universe attracts
every other particle with a force.

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Earth-Moon system
Earth and the Moon
are orbiting around
a common center
of mass.

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Centrifugal forces
As Earth and the
Moon orbit around
a common center
of mass, they do
not fall towards
each other, as their
gravities are
opposed by the
centrifugal forces.

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High tide on the near side


However, on Earths
near side, the
centrifugal force
does not exactly
oppose the Moons
gravity.
The Moons gravity is
stronger than the
centrifugal force, and
the ocean is pulled
towards the Moon.
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High tide also on the far


side
The Moons gravity
also does not exactly
oppose the
centrifugal force on
Earths far side.
The Moons gravity is
weaker than the
centrifugal force,
thus the ocean is
pulled away from the
Moon.
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Two tidal bulges


The result is two
tidal bulges.

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The tides
The tides we
experience result as
Earth rotates beneath
the deformed ocean.
The interval of time
from one high tide to
the next is about 12
hours and 25 minutes.
It is longer than 12
hours (half a day)
because the Moon also
orbits around Earth as
Earth rotates.
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Eclipses
Solar eclipse

Lunar eclipse

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Lunar eclipse
Several cultures
have myths related
to lunar eclipses.
They saw the
eclipse as the
Moon being eaten
by something,
which was why it
looked blood red.
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Exact alignment
A lunar eclipse
occurs when the
Sun, Earth, and the
Moon are aligned
exactly.

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Earths Shadow
As the Moon orbits
around Earth, it
passes through
Earths shadow.

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Appearance
A total eclipse

From Earth, we see


the curved edge of
Earths shadow
begin to cut across
the face of the full
Moon and slowly
eat its way into the
lunar disk.

A partial eclipse
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Round shadow
While several ancient
cultures saw the
eclipse as the Moon
being eaten by
something, the Greeks
were ahead of their
time.
The Greek said the
Earth was round and
used the shadow from
the lunar eclipse as
evidence.
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Partial eclipse
Usually, the
alignment is
imperfect, so the
shadow never
completely covers
the Moon.

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Total eclipse: blood Moon


Occasionally, the entire
lunar surface is
obscured.
During that time, the
Moon often acquires an
eerie, deep red
coloration. This is the
result of a small amount
of sunlight reddened by
Earths atmosphere and
refracted (bent) onto
the Moons surface.
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Moons orbit and Earths


orbit

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Moons orbital inclination


The Moons orbit is inclined at an angle of
about 5 to Earths orbit.
As the Moons orbit does not align with
Earths orbit, there isnt a lunar eclipse at
every full Moon.

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Unfavorable configuration
In an unfavorable configuration, the full
Moon lies above or below Earths orbital
plane, and a lunar eclipse cannot occur.

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Favorable configuration
In a favorable configuration, the full Moon
crosses Earths orbital plane, and a lunar
eclipse is seen.

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Two eclipse seasons


Within each Earths revolution around the Sun,
there are only two periods, known as eclipse
seasons, when the configurations are favorable for
eclipse.
An eclipse season recurs about every six months.

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Earlier seasons each year


The eclipse seasons occur about 19
days earlier each year, because the
Moons orbital orientation (but not
the inclination, which remains at 5)
changes slowly with time.
E.g. in 2014, the eclipses occurred in
April and October; this year, the eclipses
occur in March-April and September.

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Predicting eclipses
Because we know the orbits of Earth
and the Moon to great accuracy, we
can predict eclipses far into the
future.
Weblink: NASA Eclipse Web Site
Eclipse Calculator
Solar Eclipses in Singapore

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Viewing a lunar eclipse


A lunar eclipse may
be viewed from
anywhere on the
night side of Earth.

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Solar eclipse
A solar eclipse
occurs when the
Sun, the Moon, and
Earth are aligned.
The Moon passes in
front of the Sun,
and obscures the
disk of the Sun.

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Partial eclipse

In a partial eclipse,
only a portion of
the Suns disk is
obscured.

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Total eclipse
In a total eclipse,
the disk of the Sun
is fully obscured by
the Moon.

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Dark sky
The sky briefly
turns dark.
Planets and some
stars become
visible in the
daytime.
Time-Lapse:
A Total Solar Eclips
e
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The Suns corona


The Suns corona
becomes visible. It
is now identified as
part of the Suns
atmosphere.

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Annular eclipse
In an annular
eclipse, the disk of
the Sun is not fully
obscured by the
Moon, because the
apparent size of
the Moon is smaller
than that of the
Sun.

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Moons elliptical orbit


The Moons
apparent size
changes because
the Moons orbit
around Earth is not
exactly circular.

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Viewing a solar eclipse


Unlike a lunar eclipse,
which may be viewed
from anywhere on the
night side of Earth, a
solar eclipse can only
be viewed from a
certain relatively
small area of the
world, due to the
small size of the
Moons shadow.
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Small Moons shadow

This image of Earth was taken during an annular


eclipse of the Sun.

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Uncommon observation
Although solar eclipses
are natural phenomena,
it is not common to
observe one from a
given location.
In some ancient and
modern cultures, solar
eclipses have been
attributed to
supernatural causes or
regarded as bad omens.

A total solar eclipse can be


frightening to people who are
unaware of its astronomical
explanation.

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Next solar eclipse in


Singapore
The next solar eclipse
in Singapore will occur
next year on 9 March.
In Singapore, it will be
viewed as a partial
eclipse, and the
maximum view occurs
at 8:23am.
After this solar eclipse,
the next solar eclipse in
Singapore will occur
after three years.
The path of the eclipse
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