Unless there's some peculiarity about the orbit of the moon, excluding aspects such as clouds and relative brightness etc, I would expect the moon to be just as likely to be visible in the sky during the day as during the night. Does that mean that many nights are moonless and many days have a moon visible all day?
2006-09-14 10:29:59 · 15 answers · asked by Graeme M 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The Moon is above your horizon half the time (sometimes day, sometimes night) and below your horizon half the time. If it is night and the Moon is above your horizon, you'll see it. If it is day and the Moon is above your horizon, you might see it - it depends on how close it is to the Sun. If it's too close it will be lost in the Sun's glare - a near-crescent moon is almost impossible to see with the unaided eye during the day, but you can see it for a short while just before sunrise or just before sunset (depending on the moon phase).
So on balance, you are more likely to see the Moon at night than during the day, but only because the Sun is so bright. There are moonless nights, there are nights where the moon is up for only part of the night, and of course there are nights when the moon is up all night long.
Just to be clear, the Moon rises and sets just like the Sun does, but at different times of the day/night depending on the phase. (Many people mistakenly believe that the Moon is always above their horizon.)
2006-09-14 13:35:29 · answer #1 · answered by kris 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The moon is up during the day just as often as during the night.
When the moon is full, it is up all night and not up during the day.
During new moon, the moon is up all day but is not up during the night. This last thing is a bit misleading. When I say the moon is up during new moon, I mean that it's location will be somewhere in the sky, not behind the earth somewhere. But you still won't be able to see it beacuse the side of the moon that is lit is facing away from the earth. So you are slightly more likely to see the moon during nighttime.
During the new moon, you don't see the moon at night or in the day. So you can even have days where the moon is not visible at night or in the daytime.
2006-09-14 18:00:32 · answer #2 · answered by Demiurge42 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's not just as likely...primarily because there are going to be about 4 to 6 days when the moon is too close to the sun to be easily visible...and at least two days aroung new moon when it cannot be seen at all; because the thin crescent moon is completely overwhelmed by sunlight.
No "day" can have the moon visible all day. The opposite point of the full moon is a new moon, which is between us and the sun...the dark side is facing us and you can't see it. Yeah, the moon is there in the sky all day, but you can't see it.
2006-09-14 19:52:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason it is more diffucult to see the moon during the day is because the atmosphere scatters the light of the sun (which is why the sky looks blue during the day) and that creates a kind of light barrier between the Earth and space so we can't see through the atmosphere as well. The atmosphere always exists, clouds or no clouds. At night the suns rays do not hit the Earth so we can see through the atmosphere.
2006-09-14 17:36:46 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The two cases you mention are special cases when the position of the moon is at sunrise and sunset. This does not happen very often and so in general the moon will be visible in both day and night skies. The full moon is overhead at midnight and the new moon is overhead at midday waiting for an eclipse if it lines up with the sun.
2006-09-14 20:03:43 · answer #5 · answered by Chris John 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi yep it is but the sky has to be really clear, sometimes where i live you can see the moon in the daylight, it looks dead werid ad you have the sun and the moon. But the moon is always visable at night no matter what , i dont know why but it is.
2006-09-14 17:52:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the sun's rays shine out the moon during the day. The only reason we see the moon at night is because it is reflecting the sun's rays back to us.
2006-09-14 17:31:30 · answer #7 · answered by jfahd 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on where you live, up here in alaska during the day in the winter time you can see the moon during the day
2006-09-14 17:33:05 · answer #8 · answered by dodge_cowboy_72 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. I would just like to say that the moon is quite visible during the day. I see it often.........
2006-09-14 17:33:28 · answer #9 · answered by Steven S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Haven't you ever seen the moon during the day?
2006-09-14 17:33:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋