Fig. 118.—Telling Time by the Moon.
Hence there have been handed down to us a large number of old sayings to show what the weather will be during certain phases of the Moon. But it has been proved by records kept of the weather that the Moon has nothing whatever to do with it. For this reason no reliance is to be placed in any forecast of the weather which is founded on changes of the Moon.
How to Tell Time by the Moon.—After having learned how to tell the hour of the day by the Sun you should learn to tell the hour of the night by the Moon.
On some nights this is a very simple thing to do, for when the Moon is full it is due south at exactly 12 o’clock midnight, as shown in [Fig. 118].
Every night before the Moon is full you will find it due south 55 minutes earlier, so that you must subtract 55 minutes from 12 o’clock for each day; that is, one day before full Moon it is due south at 11:05 P. M.; two days before full Moon it is due south at 10:10 P. M.; three days before full Moon it is due south at 9:15 P. M., and so on.
After the Moon is full it will be due south 55 minutes later every night and then you must add 55 minutes to 12 o’clock; that is, one day after full Moon it is due south at 12:55 A. M.; two days after full Moon it is due south at 1:50 A. M.; three days after full Moon it is due south at 2:45 A. M., and so on.
- The Moon’s day is 27½ of our days long.
- The Moon’s year is 27½ of our days long.
- The Moon’s diameter is 2,160 miles.
- The distance from the Moon to the Earth is 240,000 miles.
CHAPTER VII
OTHER THINGS IN THE SKY
Seeing an Eclipse.—The word eclipse is taken from the Greek and means to fail to appear.