Moonrise/Moonset FYI

Question: Does the moon rise every night??

Answer: No, it doesn't always rise every night.

1) About half of the days each month, the moon rises during daylight hours, so technically it doesn't rise at night those days. It rises during the day.

2) There are usually one or two days a month with no moon rise at all. The moonrises come, on average about 24 hours 49 minutes apart. That means that, at the times when the moon does rise during the evening, it will get later and later with each passing night. One night, it will rise after 11 p.m. The next night, it will not rise until after midnight. By that time, it will have missed an entire calendar day.

For example, here in New York, the moon will rise at 11:54 p.m. on January 28th. The next moonrise will happen at 12:56 a.m., but on January 30th. There is no moonrise on the 29th (according to clocks in New York).

3) Around the time of new moon, you cannot see the moon. While astronomically the moon rises a few minutes before the sun, it is invisible to any observer.

4) If you were in the polar regions, say on the north slope of Alaska or in northern Norway, the moon does not rise on several days each month due to a phenomenon similar to the midnight sun.

When the moon is far to the north in its monthly trip around the sky, it stays above the horizon for several days without ever setting, much like the midnight sun in June. When it is far to the south, it never rises at all for several days a month, just as the sun in December never rises in the Arctic.

And, we see the moon traveling from east to west in the sky.That is because of the earth's rotation. The moon is actually traveling in the opposite direction, but our rotation makes it appear the opposite.

Also, if you see the moon in a certain spot one night, say at 10pm, on the next night, the moon will be about 12 degrees to the left/east.

Once you start paying attention, you'll notice things about it.

Look up waxing (moon is growing towards full) and waning (moon is getting smaller, towards new).

Lunatics. Count me in.