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Stand on your head to see my Moon

Q: Does the Crescent Moon look the same in the Northern as it does in the Southern Hemisphere? --Bob M. , New Zealand

A: No it doesn't. In the Northern Hemisphere the Moon looks roughly upside down with respect to how it looks in the Southern. See graphic. If New Zealand wants to see the Moon like the USA does-you need to stand on your head and look at the Moon.

[NASA] The Moon looks different on opposite ends of Earth

Gravity orients how we look at the Moon. Our feet stay with Earth and our head points away, on a line with the Earth's center. Suppose I stand on the North Pole and you on the South Pole. I'm exactly upside down with respect to you. My view of the Moon is correspondingly upside down. This is true of any two locations that are on opposite sides of Earth-that lie on the same straight line passing through Earth's center.

As you can see from the graphic: "If the Moon is on the eastern horizon in one place then it may well be close to the western horizon in the other and hence look upside down," says Robert Massey, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London.

(Answered by April Holladay, science correspondent, March 27, 2002)

Further Surfing:

Southern African Astronomical Observatory

The Royal Observatory Greenwich: The Moon