The upside-down moon: Why the moon looks odd on the other side of the world
From the poles to the equator, where you stand on Earth changes what you see in the sky. The moon and even the constellations can appear turned around between hemispheres.
A full moon occurs roughly once every month. Each month’s full moon has a different name and meaning.
The moon is one of the most familiar sights in the night sky, but it does not look the same from every corner of the planet. Travel far enough from home, and the face of the moon can look like it has been flipped upside down.
For anyone who grew up in the Northern Hemisphere, that moment usually arrives after a trip south of the equator. The familiar craters and dark lunar features are still there, but they appear to have rotated 180 degrees.
The reason comes down to one word: perspective.
When looking at the moon, you are not just looking “up." You are standing on a round planet, and your head is pointed away from it. Your idea of what counts as “up” in the sky depends on where you are standing.
Photos of the full moon as seen from the Northern Hemisphere (left) and the Southern Hemisphere (right). (Image credit left: AP Photo/Manish Swarup, Image credit right: Getty Images/Merrillie)
Imagine one person standing at the North Pole and another standing at the South Pole. Both are standing upright on solid ground. Neither feels upside down. But if they could see each other, each person would see the other as inverted. Their “up” points in opposite directions in space.
Now give them both a clear view of the moon. The moon always keeps the same side facing Earth, but because those observers are on opposite ends of the globe, they would not agree on which part of that lunar face is the “top” or the “bottom.”
This illusion is not limited to the moon. Constellations also look different from one hemisphere to the other.
Some constellations that are high overhead in one hemisphere sit low on the horizon in the other, and some disappear entirely from view. The pattern is the same as with the moon: The stars have not moved, but the vantage point has.
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