Because it’s only a day or two since the last full moon – the second full moon of August – the waning gibbous moon will rise in the east at dusk or early evening tonight (at middle and far northern latitudes). But that’s not all. You can see the moon in the west after sunrise, starting tomorrow.
Sylvia asks When is the best time to see the moon in the sky during daylight hours?
Sylvia, it’s easier to see a daytime moon when the moon is fairly far from the sun in the sky. When would that be? It would be around the time of full moon each month. A full moon is always 180 degrees from the sun, on the opposite side of the sky’s dome. Full moon was August 31, at 13:58 Universal Time (8:58 a.m. Central Daylight Time).
Blue Moon – second August full moon – on August 31, 2012
Generally, the full moon sets around sunrise. But the waning gibbous moon sets in the west after sunrise. In the next several mornings, after sunrise, look for the waning gibbous moon to sail over your western horizon during the morning hours. At mid-northern latitudes in North America, the moon will set at roughly 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, 9:30 a.m. on Monday, 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Moon’s rising and setting time in your sky
By the way, the moon is up during the day half the time. It has to be, since it orbits around the whole Earth once a month. Sometimes the daytime moon is hard to see because it’s so near the sun in the sky. And consider that if the sun is low in the sky, a slim crescent daytime moon might be straight overhead, so that you’d have to crane your neck, looking up, to notice it.
September 2012 guide to the five visible planets
Ordinarily, we don’t look up during the day to see such a thin crescent moon. That’s one reason people are sometimes surprised to learn the moon is out so often during the day.
But as the moon gets farther from the sun in our sky, the portion of its lighted half turned in our direction increases. In other words, the farther the moon is from the sun, the larger the visible phase of the moon … and the easier to see a daytime moon. Starting tomorrow morning, look for the daytime moon in the west after sunrise!
