Our Moon reaches apogee, (greatest distance from Earth), for this orbit, on Thursday October 10th. At that time the Moon will be at a distance of 31.82 Earth diameters 252,216 miles (405,902 km) from the Earth.
On the day of the apogee Moon the 12-day old waxing gibbous Moon rises about 1-2 hours before sunset local time and is above the horizon the remainder of the night hours, setting at around sunrise the following morning.
Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? 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)
Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.
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