Live video of the moon showing field rotation and the moon's exact position in the sky! 10-2-11 Summary on page 4!!

Come see live video of our closest celestial neighbor, the moon! Right now the telescope is an altitude-azimuth configuration, so if you watch carefully you'll notice the moon appears to "rotate" or "tilt" over time. This is due to the phenomenon of field rotation, which is normal from any perspective that is not aligned with the earth's axis of rotation. Your head resting on your shoulders is basically a kind of altitude-azimuth "mount."

Later this evening I will interrupt the broadcast, polar align the telescope, and then put it back on the moon. At that point you will notice that the moon no longer appears to "rotate" or "tilt" over time, thus proving that the reason the crescent moon sometimes looks "horizontal" when it sets is due to field rotation. It's simply a matter of where you are on earth and where the moon is in the sky when it sets as to what its apparent orientation will be.

Here's the live stream (it's still broad daylight out here, so please pardon the blueness of the sky):
[link to www.ustream.tv]

Last Edited by Astromut on 10/03/2011 09:44 PM