Friday, August 12, 2011

Moon's elevation in the nightsky?

In the UK you are at around a latitude of 50 degrees north. The North Celestial Pole is thus 50 degrees above the northern horizon, declination +50 is directly overhead and the celestial equator is about 40 degrees above the southern horizon. The ecliptic snakes between a declination of +23.5 and -23.5 and the Moon's orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees compared to the ecliptic. Thus is can get to a declination close to +29 degrees or -29 degrees. When at a declination of +29 degrees it would be 69 degrees above your southern horizon, while at a declination of -29 degrees it would be only 11 degrees above the southern horizon.

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