interesting astronomy question

on dec 29,2004 i was on the continental divide just west of denver colorado at elevation ~11000ft at noon. i just happened to look up and i saw the sun and the moon almost next to each other in the sky. how was this possible? i cant figure it out. please enlighten me i would love to know.

Unless I’ve erred, always a big chance, this site would suggest that the sun and moon were not in the sky at the same time on Dec. 29.

Hmm … not sure what kind of mushrooms might be up that time of year in Colorado, but you must have found a good one! :rolleyes:

Sorry to have to say this, but the only possible explanation is that you were dreaming or hallucinating. As this site shows, on that day, the moon was three days past full, and so was almost exactly opposite the sun, and wouldn’t have been visible at noon anywhere on earth.

Not possible. The full moon was on Dec 26, 2004. On the 29th it was about 86% illuminated. The full moon is 180° away from the sun, and thus rises when the sun sets. The moon is only seen near the sun when it is very old (waning phase) or new (waxing phase) The moon moves about 14 degrees a day relative the sun, with it’s closest approach on the day of the new moon.
Perhaps you saw a reflection in the window?

What you saw might possibly have been a sun dog.

When the moon appears to be “next to” the sun, you can’t see it, because it’s virtually a new moon. The opposite side of the moon is illuminated, not the side facing you. This is why you don’t see the disk of the moon during a partial solar eclipse. You’re just seeing the absence of the sun in that area.

Sad that some people are so quick to pass derogatory judgement.
Teppink, there’s lots of explanations for what you saw, not just the put-downs listed by commasense, who seems to think he/she has some preferential access to infinate knowledge. Unfortunately there are posters here who get a charge out of belittling others. They are thankfully a minority; get into the habit of ignoring them.

What derogatory judgement? The OP could not have seen the moon next to the sun on that date; that much is fact. It’s also true that the moon would be almost invisible when it’s close to the sun, especially mid-day. It would be an extremely thin crescent, usually lost in the sun’s glare.

I agree it may have been a sundog. I can’t think of a better explanation right now. It would help if the OP could explain how close the two were, and how the “moon” appeared (crescent or full, well-defined shape or fuzzy, any patterns on it, etc). Did this phenomenon last a long time? What was the weather condition like?

EvanS. You seem to know your way around the Board pretty well. If you wish to Pit a poster or Pit their position, take it to BBQ. This is inappropriate for GQ.

samclem GQ moderator

Call my sense of humor dry, if you like, but I meant no “derogatory judgment,” and if any offense was taken, I apologize.

I think we actually were rather kind. What **teppink ** claims to have seen just plain wasn’t there. (Even if it was a sundog, they’re pretty hard to confuse with the moon.) Suggesting that he was hallucinating at least is giving him credit for having actually *seen *it, reagrdless of all rational explanations to the contrary.

Well, I think at high altitude where there is little dust and other detrius in the air to scatter sunlight would permit the seeing of a thin crescent moon somewhere in the vicinity of the sun, as a WAG maybe 20[bup]o[/sup] away.

What dumb SDMB software! It seems to me that it should certainly recognize [bup] as meaning [sup]. Let’s get with it Board managers!

But according to my link above, the moon had set at 09:46. The OP mentioned that he saw this apparition at noon.

I live at sea level, and the thin crescent of the moon near the sun is often visible here. One just has to look for it (without staring at the sun).

Am I on everyone’s ignore list?

Mybe his watch was still on Eastern Std. Time.

According to the US Naval Observatory,

The issue of how early in the moon’s orbit a new moon can be seen is of immediate and abiding concern to Muslims, because they use a purely lunar calendar, and the start of any given month and the dates of holidays, etc., are based on when the first crescent can actually be seen in a given location. It’s not sufficient to say that astronomically the moon has passed the exact point of being new; a crescent must be seen by someone.

According to a couple of Muslim sites I have just found, the earliest at which a new crescent can reliably be seen seems to be slightly under 18 hours past the moment of conjunction.

If you’re interested in learning more about this, just Google “earliest new moon visible”

Yup, you’re a message board of ONE! :slight_smile: