In North America, how do you tell the North and South Nodes, or sides of the moon?

Question

Is it facing North or South when its waxing or waning?

Answer 1

I don't understand your question. The Moon ALWAYS faces the earth (same side aleswya towards the Earth) - its period of rotation about its axis equals its period of revolution about the Earth.

Whenever you look at the moon, you are seeing the same "face", or side if it..

Ron.

Answer 2

The term "nodes" actually refers to where the orbit of a celestial body crosses the ecliptic. The nodes are locations along the orbital path around the Sun. And, the location of the nodes changes over time. Because of this, there's no concise answer to your question. You will need to start by reading the linked Wikipedia page, then proceed to studying more advanced sources.

Waxing and waning (lunar phases) isn't related to the nodes. It's related to the positions of the Sun and the Moon in relation to Earth.

When you combine knowledge of the nodes and of the reasons behind waxing and waning, you'll find that what they have in common is eclipses. In fact, it is the combination of lunar nodes and lunar phases that create eclipses.

In addition to Wikipedia, another good place to start learning about astronomy (including lunar nodes, lunar phase and eclipses) is Astronomynotes.com. It is linked below.

Have fun learning all of this. Once you understand it, you'll enjoy looking up at the night sky--especially during eclipses--because you'll understand what is happening!

Answer 3

When the moon is on the meridian (due south, at whatever location you are at north of the equator), north on the moon is up, east on the moon is to the right, and west is to the left (when viewed with the naked eye).

Before we became serious about lunar exploration the directions were stated a different way: east on the moon was the limb pointing toward the eastern part of the sky, and west pointed toward the western part of the sky.

So, when you look at the moon with your unaided vision just think of a globe of the earth, with north and south up and down (respectively), west to the left and east to the right.

When the moon is rising, however, due to the tilt of the axis of rotation of Earth, and the shape of Earth, north on the moon is toward the left, east is up, south points to the right, and west is down. When the moon is setting, north (on the moon points right, south to the left, east is down and west is up (for the same reasons stated for a rising moon).

Most telescopes invert images in one way or the other, for example, my Schmidt-Cassegrain leaves east and west alone, but north and south are reversed. Newtonian telescopes and refracting telescopes also invert, but in different manners.