# Do people in the southern hemisphere view the moon as inverted compared to the northern hemisphere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2014, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770 "2014-10-19T06:20:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/21 "2014-10-19T19:15:19Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > At first glance, this seemed like such a naive question to me. I’m humbled that I’m the one who’s naive and my ignorance has been fought and brought down to the mat today. I truly learned something. Thanks, **Leaffan** , for raising an interesting question I never thought about and thanks everyone else for your illuminating answers. I mean this sincerely, no snark intended. Ditto, ditto. Nicely said. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/22 "2014-10-19T19:26:20Z")
Those are 2 photos that nicely illustrate the issue, **cmyk**. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/23 "2014-10-19T19:37:39Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Ditto, ditto. Nicely said. Upon thinking more about this, I should not have been surprised, as I know in the Northern hemisphere, the shadow on a sundial appears to move in a “clockwise” direction and in the Southern hemisphere it appears to move “counter clockwise” due to the sun’s apparent position in the sky and the need to point the gnomon to true south rather than true north. This would also seem to apply to the apparent orientation of the moon with respect to the observer. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/24 "2014-10-19T19:59:35Z")
> [@Baffle](#): > > As someone who has lived in both NZ and Canada I can confirm that the moon rotates in the sky. No, it doesn’t. It’s _your view_ of the Moon that rotates. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/25 "2014-10-19T21:30:53Z")
> [@newme](#): > > ˙ɹǝpun uʍop ʞooq ɐ ƃuᴉpɐǝɹ ʎɹʇ 'ǝɹǝɥdsᴉɯǝɥ uɹǝɥʇnos ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ ʎuunɟ sʞool uooɯ ǝɥʇ ʞuᴉɥʇ noʎ ɟI > > I think seeing the sun move across the sky from right to left would take some getting used to. Wait a minute! How did you do that? All your "t"s are below the line in the upside-down script. That’s hella weird. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/26 "2014-10-19T21:35:44Z")
It’s not true upside-down script. It’s a collection of characters that look like upside-down script: The inverted 'd’s, for instance, are just plain ordinary 'p’s. And the 'l’s are the same as the right-side-up version. Apparently the closest approximation to an upside-down ‘t’ is a character that’s centered a bit higher on the line (and likewise for the 'i’s). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/27 "2014-10-19T21:44:52Z")
I’m **Leo Bloom.** I support the making of this thread. Plus I’m going to think about the man in the moon and 3-D aspects. **IvoryTower** describes eloquently spatial cretins like me. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/28 "2014-10-19T22:29:34Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > No, it doesn’t. It’s _your view_ of the Moon that rotates. Even more accurately, it’s _you_ who rotates. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/29 "2014-10-20T03:17:33Z")
I remember one of the more surreal things that struck me when my family moved from Texas to Brazil when I was in high school was that the Moon appeared “sideways” down there. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/30 "2014-10-20T03:22:05Z")
> [@jimbuff314](#): > > Those are 2 photos that nicely illustrate the issue, **cmyk**. Thanks! Ditto. Is the NY one of a famous “blood moon?” Or the largest one of the year…what’s that one called? (I think a blood moon is a “second” one in a calendrical month, but I’m not sure now…) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/31 "2014-10-20T03:45:02Z")
I recall reading that this would be one of a couple of problems with planning any giant advertisements on the surface of the moon like laser projections or billboards. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/32 "2014-10-20T05:24:59Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Ditto. > > Is the NY one of a famous “blood moon?” Or the largest one of the year…what’s that one called? (I think a blood moon is a “second” one in a calendrical month, but I’m not sure now…) No, that’s only because it’s low on the horizon, and just as in sunrises/sunsets, the thicker atmosphere is refracting all those red wavelengths, coloring the moon similarly. As far as a second full moon within a calendar month, you’re thinking of a [“blue moon”.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon) But it can be a bit more complicated than just that (see the wiki article). As far as a “blood moon” you might be thinking of what a lunar eclipse is sometimes referred to when the glowing red umbra of earth’s shadow crosses over. Why red? because the earth’s atmosphere is aglow, from the sun behind it, like a ring of fire around the earth from the POV of the moon, and is casting all that red light onto its surface during the “darkest” part of the eclipse. The moon is seeing all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets all at once. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/33 "2014-10-20T08:46:29Z")
This came up here [a few years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592878) and I made [a graphic](http://guanolad.com/stuff/moon_orientation.jpg) back then to illustrate the phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/34 "2014-10-20T09:14:41Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > This came up here [a few years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592878) and I made [a graphic](http://guanolad.com/stuff/moon_orientation.jpg) back then to illustrate the phenomenon. Nice graphic **GL** , and it helps me visualize the Moon from different latitudes. Thank you. I’ll sleep better now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/35 "2014-10-20T12:03:32Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Yes they do, in fact at school I remembered being taught the phases of the Moon by noting that it was C shaped when Crescent and D shaped when De-crescent, opposite to what I see now living in the Northern Hemisphere. > > Obviously this means there is an intermediate state in between North and South, so near the equator the Moon is on its side, so to speak, with the illuminated/dark line nearly horizontal. A Dutch woman told me that she remembered it using the French _premier_ and _dernier_ (the shape of the round part of the first letter matches the phase). Then I swap them round for the southern hemisphere. C for Crescent is much easier! ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/36 "2014-10-20T12:15:44Z")
We were taught at school to remember the COD pattern by using the Latin verbs _crescere_ and _decrescere_. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/37 "2014-10-20T14:45:22Z")
When I traveled from Regina SK. (50d N) to Palm Springs CA (34 d N) I noticed that the moon was sideways. Similar to the picture of Sydney Aus. (34 d S) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/38 "2014-10-20T21:14:19Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Not sure about that , but I always thought the moon looked bigger by the equator. > > By the North Pole and South Pole may look smaller. I doubt it. While you may be closer to the moon being on the equator compared to the poles the difference wouldn’t be visually noticeable. The moon is over 238K miles away and we’re talking about a difference of probably less than 5K miles. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/39 "2014-10-21T02:01:16Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Yes they do, in fact at school I remembered being taught the phases of the Moon by noting that it was C shaped when Crescent and D shaped when De-crescent, opposite to what I see now living in the Northern Hemisphere. This wouldn’t appear to help at all. I’ve always seen “crescent” applied to both the waxing and waning moon just before or just after the new moon. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770/40 "2014-10-21T03:03:49Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > This wouldn’t appear to help at all. I’ve always seen “crescent” applied to both the waxing and waning moon just before or just after the new moon. The Latin root of the word crescent means “to grow”, as in increasing size. In Spanish, they way I learned it, “Cresciente” (the name of the Moon phase), means “enlarging, growing” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-in-the-southern-hemisphere-view-the-moon-as-inverted-compared-to-the-northern-hemisphere/701770.md?page=3)