# The Moon on SMALLVILLE **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2007, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914 "2007-09-29T07:57:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914/21 "2007-10-09T18:10:32Z")
> [@](#): > > But that IS what I stated: You stated that > [@](#): > > so at night it has to point down towards the horizon. Which isn’t strictly true, as I said. I think only very close to the new moon would the moon ever “point down toward the horizon”. At no other time could it reasonably be said to do so. It DOES NOT point down to the horizon at night in the vast majority of cases. My statement may seem bizarre to your, but it’s true. I don;'t kniow why you find it difficult to understand. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914/22 "2007-10-09T18:25:38Z")
\*\* Dijon\*\*, I suspect me may be using terms in different ways. I interpret “down towards the horizon” as _straight_ down. This never happens. If you mean that “eventually the direction the moon points will fall below the horizon”, then it’s always true – because any Great Circle route through the sky will eventually hit the horizion. What I mean by people misinterpreting the direction is that people will extrapolate the direction the moon is pointing _badly_, and will not send it along the proper Great Circle route, so that it would not intersect the sun. People’s perceptions of the shape of the sky are somewhat distorted, which probably is responsible for their extrapolating incorrectly. See Minnaert’s clasic text “The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air” on aiming the crescent moon toward the sun (and how it can be “off”), and for people’s misperception of the shape of the sky. . There’s also a reference in Jearl Walker’s “Flying Circus of Physics”. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914/23 "2007-10-10T02:05:45Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] \*\* Dijon\*\*, I suspect me may be using terms in different ways. I interpret “down towards the horizon” as _straight_ down. [/QUOTE] I take your meaning, but crescent moons do point almost straight down sometimes. Apparently more so in the tropics, but occasionally even in Kansas (where Smallville is set). ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914/24 "2007-10-11T11:51:56Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] \*\* Dijon\*\*, I suspect me {“sic” by **Dijon** …figuring “we” was intended} may be using terms in different ways. I interpret “down towards the horizon” as _straight_ down. [/quote] _There’s_ the problem, then. I didn’t mean “straight down”, but rather “towards the sun, which must be below the horizon at night, even if it’s at an angle”. > [@](#): > > This never happens. If you mean that “eventually the direction the moon points will fall below the horizon”, then it’s always true – because any Great Circle route through the sky will eventually hit the horizion. Well, once again, we might be speaking past each other a bit. The moon pointing straight down can “NEVER happen”? That’s a new one on me. Wouldn’t that happen near the equator at night (or along the ecliptic, which I realize is slightly different)? It seems that it would, but I could be wrong about that one. As far as the “eventually” part, then sure: at night. During the day, the moon points up into the sky…where the sun is. > [@](#): > > What I mean by people misinterpreting the direction is that people will extrapolate the direction the moon is pointing _badly_, and will not send it along the proper Great Circle route, so that it would not intersect the sun. People’s perceptions of the shape of the sky are somewhat distorted, which probably is responsible for their extrapolating incorrectly. No argument here. As with my coworker that I mentioned, I’ve also known people that don’t know you can see planets from Earth. Some people just don’t pay attention and/or think. > [@](#): > > See Minnaert’s clasic text “The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air” on aiming the crescent moon toward the sun (and how it can be “off”), and for people’s misperception of the shape of the sky. > > . There’s also a reference in Jearl Walker’s “Flying Circus of Physics”. Thanks for the links. I’ll check them out. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914/25 "2007-10-11T13:06:01Z")
[QUOTE=Dijon Warlock] The moon pointing straight down can “NEVER happen”? That’s a new one on me. Wouldn’t that happen near the equator at night (or along the ecliptic, which I realize is slightly different)? It seems that it would, but I could be wrong about that one. [/QUOTE] No, you’re right - and I’ve seen it doing exactly that in St Lucia (latitude 14 North) on my honeymoon. It has to somewhere on Earth: north of the Tropic of Cancer it’s always “down and to the right” for a sunset crescent, south of the Tropic of Capricorn it’s always “down and to the left” for a sunset crescent, so it stands to reason that somewhere in between there must be a “down and neither right nor left” where it crosses over. The exact point is on a latitude that varies with the season of the year, of course. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914/26 "2007-10-11T15:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] But can you see stars through the dark part of the moon? [/QUOTE] I saw this recently, I think in an episode of “The Universe,” in which they should have known better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-on-smallville/420914.md?page=1)