When in its orbit is the Moon visible to the fewest number of people on Earth?

Factual Questions
1

I had this image of the Moon, in its serene majesty, being all the more serenely majestic, disdaining poetic descriptions, when it shines unobserved.

During its travels, the Moon’s visual footprint (I don’t know how to say it correctly–something about the image and subtending angles) on the globe must change throughout the night–somebody’s/someplace’s night–as well as during the year.

I’m thinking that someone has mapped this or can figure it out, and then it could be correlated with population figures.

Any help?

Assume it’s never cloudy all night (oh give me a home) and everybody’s standing outside looking.

2

I would think it would be whenever the moon is over the Pacific Ocean, when the view from the moon would be something like this.

3

Ninja’d.
As a first approximation the “footprint” is hemispherical. So the question reduces to finding the hemisphere with the smallest human population. My suggestion is when the moon is directly over 28°S 135°W. Not a whole lot different from the view that SP proposed. You would want to check that the orbit of the moon goes that far south but I think that it does.

4

Over the Pacific ocean… during a near solar eclipse. Hardly anybody to see it, and hardly visible to the naked eye anyway.

Hell, just about anytime during the day, most people will barely acknowledge the existence of the Moon. The OP almost implies as much with the mentions of “night.” Some people deny that the Moon is visible during the day at all. Crazy but true.

5

Speaking as someone from that part of the world, it’s true - there’s nobody there.

6

Hey, I’m there: my house is in the bottom left of the picture.

7

Your gutters need cleaning.

8

When it is new, and dark, and lost in the glare of the sun? Or perhaps I am misunderstanding the question…

9

During a lunar eclipse.

10

I think the OP is going for the position in the moon’s orbit where the smallest number of people have theoretical line of sight, rather than ‘smallest number of people who notice, or bother looking’

11

There’s a relevant xkcd. There always is.

Laser Pointer deals incidentally with the opposite situation; what spot should the moon be overhead of to be visible to the *maximum *number of people?

12

Now that is the kind of stuff I wonder about, let’s get started today… What??

13

Nonsense. The moon is perfectly visible during a lunar eclipse. It is just a bit darkened, and reddish. (Also, that is not a “point in its orbit”.)

14

Trick Question
At the New Moon phase.

15

And given that it’s visible to a hemisphere, the answer to the OP’s question is simply the antipode to the answer to that question.

Though it’s not a point in its orbit in either case, so much as an orientation of the Earth under it.

16

And for chrissakes, is it too much to ask for you to draw the blinds when you’re changing? Sheesh.

17

Tangent: isn’t there a specific term for when the moon is visible (to the naked eye) during the day? I remember learning it as a kid, but it’s long since slipped my memory.

18

Based on the links from the xkcd comic, the best hemisphere would be one that doesn’t have Africa or Japan. I think the moon would be somewhere south of Baja California, the exact spot depending on the population distribution of New Zealand, Siberia, Iceland, etc. Depending on the seasons on Earth and the exact location of the Moon in its orbit, the Moon can be as far as 28 degrees away from the equator – the further south, the better.

Earth and Sky call it a “children’s moon”, because you need the eyes of a child to see it.

19

We always called it a “day moon.”

Love this!

20

Incidentally, it really isn’t at all remarkable for the Moon to be visible in the daytime. At any given phase other than completely new or completely full, it’s possible for at least part of the day-night cycle, and overall, it’s visible about half the time, day or night.