On Tuesday March 22^nd the 13-day old, and nearly full, waxing gibbous Moon will be crossing the plane of the ecliptic moving north relative to the ecliptic. This is known as the ascending node, one of two intersections the Moon’s orbital path has with the ecliptic. The ecliptic is actually the Earth’s orbit and the Moon’s orbit is inclined about 6^o from the ecliptic. So there are two node intersections, the ascending and descending nodes.

   The waxing gibbous Moon rises around 6 pm local time, and is over the western horizon as the Sun is rising.
   Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as many graphics show? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth^*

^*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)

Read this very informative article about the Earth-Moon system and their orbital motions, written by Joe Hanson. “Do We Orbit the Moon?”

   
   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for more observing information for this month.