Offline StinkyOne

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Question about the motion of the Moon
« on: August 22, 2017, 12:43:58 PM »
Can someone explain to me how the Moon supposedly bobs up and down? (resulting in the solar eclipse)
The problems I see:
There has to be a force acting on the Moon to cause it to dip below the Sun since they normally share the same orbital height.
The Moon should look larger when it is closer to us and yet it doesn't. (no, the optical illusion of a large Moon on the horizon doesn't count. If you take a picture, you'll see the Moon is actually the same size)
How is it that the Moon and Sun haven't collided?
If the Sun and Moon orbit each other, what would ever cause the Moon to dip below and move across the Sun? That would be like the Moon dipping below the south pole and coming up the other side in the round Earth scenario.
Many thanks!
I saw a video where a pilot was flying above the sun.
-Terry50

Re: Question about the motion of the Moon
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2017, 09:02:11 AM »
From what I've gathered:

Quote
There has to be a force acting on the Moon to cause it to dip below the Sun since they normally share the same orbital height.
They don't share the same orbital height - at least not always, and not exactly.
Quote
The Moon should look larger when it is closer to us and yet it doesn't.
Yes, it would look larger, but since the Sun and Moon are rather small to begin with, and the variations in altitude are not that big either, that's neglegible.
Quote
How is it that the Moon and Sun haven't collided?
Why would they collide?
Quote
If the Sun and Moon orbit each other, what would ever cause the Moon to dip below and move across the Sun? That would be like the Moon dipping below the south pole and coming up the other side in the round Earth scenario.
The forces affecting the Sun and the Moon are mostly unknown. There's other theories though, for example the Shadow Object passing between the Sun and the Earth.


Offline mtnman

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Re: Question about the motion of the Moon
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2017, 03:56:56 PM »
Can someone explain to me how the Moon supposedly bobs up and down? (resulting in the solar eclipse)
The problems I see:
There has to be a force acting on the Moon to cause it to dip below the Sun since they normally share the same orbital height.
The Moon should look larger when it is closer to us and yet it doesn't. (no, the optical illusion of a large Moon on the horizon doesn't count. If you take a picture, you'll see the Moon is actually the same size)
How is it that the Moon and Sun haven't collided?
If the Sun and Moon orbit each other, what would ever cause the Moon to dip below and move across the Sun? That would be like the Moon dipping below the south pole and coming up the other side in the round Earth scenario.
Many thanks!

The plane of the moon's orbit around the Earth is slightly inclined from the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun. So the moon crosses the Earth's orbit plane twice a month. We get eclipses when that crossing happens at new moon (solar eclipse) and full moon (lunar eclipse). Check http://moonblink.info/Eclipse/why/cycles for a full description of the planes and the orbits.