Monday, January 4, 2016, 3:57 PM -
The Moon is something of a wonderful contradiction - a constant in our
skies but ever changing from day to day throughout the year. Here's a
look at what the Moon will look like for every day of 2016.
In the video above, provided by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, the changes in the Moon's face are shown, hour by hour, day by day, for the entire year.
Along with the phases changes, this presentation includes
- the named lunar craters, as the terminator between day and night crosses over them,
- the Moon's orbit (top left) as it travels in its elliptical path around the Earth,
- the
Moon's subsolar and sub-Earth points (bottom left), which denote the
points on the surface where the Sun and Earth (respectively) are
directly overhead, and
- the distance the Moon is from the Earth (background), with the scale presented in Earth diameters.
- March
9 (at 0:54 in the video), as this will be the only total solar eclipse
of 2016, visible across the Pacific Ocean, southeast Asia and most of
Australia,
- September 1 (at 3:15), since this will be an annular "ring of fire" solar eclipse across Africa and the Indian Ocean, and
- November
14 (at 4:14), as that will not only be the closest perigee full moon of
2016, but also apparently the closest full moon we've seen in decades!
The Moon on November 14, at 11 UTC. Credit: NASA Goddard/NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
This November 14 perigee full moon will be at a distance of just 356,511 km from Earth, which is the closest perigee moon since January 15, 1930 (when it was 356,399 km away) and the closest until November 25, 2034 (when it will be 356,447 km away).
Coincidentally, 2034 will also be the next occurrence of the Christmas Day full moon that we saw in 2015 (however, in 1930, there was a crescent apogee moon on Christmas Day).
The 'Rocking' Moon
An added bonus the video highlights, without drawing too much direct attention to it, is a very cool phenomenon called libration.
The Moon is "tidally-locked" with Earth, meaning that one side of it is always facing towards us. This lets us see only one half of the Moon at any one time, regardless of whether it is all lit or all dark or somewhere in between. This doesn't mean that we're limited to seeing only 50 per cent of the Moon's surface from Earth, however. Due to this "wobble" of libration, over the course of a month, we actually get to see roughly 59 per cent of the total surface of the Moon.
Of course, we've had pictures of the far side of the Moon since the late 1950s, the Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to set eyes on it in 1968, and we've had plenty of other lunar missions since (including LRO), but libration gives those of us here on Earth a little 'peek' around the edges, to see features that are hidden to us at other times of the month.
Sources: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio | NASA Eclipse Site | Fermilab | The Weather Network
Related: Watch all the 2016 Moons from the southern hemisphere
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