How does the moon appear to move across the sky
Asked by admin @ in Physics viewed by 317 People
When you watch the Moon move across the sky, you notice that it appears to move from east to west; however, the Moon actually orbits Earth from west to east. It only looks like it moves from east to west because the speed of Earth’s rotation is faster than the Moon’s orbit around Earth. If you were in a space craft hovering in the Moon’s atmosphere, the Moon would appear to orbit in its actual direction (west to east). Why would the apparent motion of the Moon be different, depending on where the viewer is located?