One practical application of understanding Astronomy even this early in the course is to be able to tell what hour it currently is by recognizing the Moon's phase, what angle away from the Sun that lunar phase occurs at and where the Moon is in the sky. To help you cultivate this skill, this problem is going to focus on that connection between the angle the Sun and Moon are apart in the sky and the difference in the times. Remember that the Earth rotates 15° for every hour they are apart (15°/hr), so use that rate to measure their angular distance. Thus, if a waxing gibbous Moon rises at 2:52 pm... about how many degrees in the sky is the Moon away from the Sun? To do this, first convert the Moon's rise time into decimal hours. There are 60 minutes in an hour. So then, the minutes as a decimal fraction of an hour and added to its hour, would a decimal hour. For example: 3:22 pm - 3+22/60 hr- 3.367 hr. This "low numbered" hour occurs because we "start over" counting the hours from noon, essentially treating noon as a second 0 hour of the day, instead of the 12th hour that it actually is. HENCE, as this would be the amount of time since the Sun had passed the meridian, then it also becomes its difference of time FROM the meridian and no subtraction is needed! How easy is that!

Applications and Investigations in Earth Science (9th Edition)
9th Edition
ISBN:9780134746241
Author:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
Publisher:Edward J. Tarbuck, Frederick K. Lutgens, Dennis G. Tasa
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One practical application of understanding Astronomy even this early in the course is to be able to
tell what hour it currently is by recognizing the Moon's phase, what angle away from the Sun that
lunar phase occurs at and where the Moon is in the sky. To help you cultivate this skill, this problem
is going to focus on that connection between the angle the Sun and Moon are apart in the sky and
the difference in the times.
Remember that the Earth rotates 15° for every hour they are apart (15°/hr), so use that rate to
measure their angular distance. Thus, if a waxing gibbous Moon rises at 2:52 pm...
about how many degrees in the sky is the Moon away from the Sun?
To do this, first convert the Moon's rise time into decimal hours. There are 60 minutes in an hour.
So then, the minutes as a decimal fraction of an hour and added to its hour, would a decimal hour.
For example: 3:22 pm - 3+22/60 hr- 3.367 hr. This "low numbered" hour occurs because we
"start over" counting the hours from noon, essentially treating noon as a second 0 hour of the day,
instead of the 12th hour that it actually is. HENCE, as this would be the amount of time since the
Sun had passed the meridian, then it also becomes its difference of time FROM the meridian and no
subtraction is needed! How easy is that!
Transcribed Image Text:One practical application of understanding Astronomy even this early in the course is to be able to tell what hour it currently is by recognizing the Moon's phase, what angle away from the Sun that lunar phase occurs at and where the Moon is in the sky. To help you cultivate this skill, this problem is going to focus on that connection between the angle the Sun and Moon are apart in the sky and the difference in the times. Remember that the Earth rotates 15° for every hour they are apart (15°/hr), so use that rate to measure their angular distance. Thus, if a waxing gibbous Moon rises at 2:52 pm... about how many degrees in the sky is the Moon away from the Sun? To do this, first convert the Moon's rise time into decimal hours. There are 60 minutes in an hour. So then, the minutes as a decimal fraction of an hour and added to its hour, would a decimal hour. For example: 3:22 pm - 3+22/60 hr- 3.367 hr. This "low numbered" hour occurs because we "start over" counting the hours from noon, essentially treating noon as a second 0 hour of the day, instead of the 12th hour that it actually is. HENCE, as this would be the amount of time since the Sun had passed the meridian, then it also becomes its difference of time FROM the meridian and no subtraction is needed! How easy is that!
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