waxing crescent moon

[stuck]

This is an image I took back in May 2020.
As captured:

IMG_0310_4web.jpg

Cropped and reprocessed:

IMG_0310_4web_2.jpg

Ken

[HansV]

Very good!

[ChrisGreaves]

This is an image I took back in May 2020.

Hi Ken. MUCH better images than I get with my smart-phone through my bedroom windows.

But logically, how can viewers be sure that it is a waxing moon, and not a waning moon?
I know you and trust you.

But if I showed this image to a friend and said "Look! a waxing crescent moon", they could challenge me and say "No it's not. It's a waning moon!"
Thanks
Chris

[HansV]

Since the picture has been taken in the Northern Hemisphere, it's a waxing moon. If it had been taken in the Southern Hemisphere, it would have been a waning moon. Think about when you see a waxing/waning moon crescent...

Unless the picture has been mirrored of course

[ChrisGreaves]

Since the picture has been taken in the Northern Hemisphere, it's a waxing moon. If it had been taken in the Southern Hemisphere, it would have been a waning moon. Think about when you see a waxing/waning moon crescent...

Er?
I thought that "waxing" meant "growing bigger" and "waning" meant growing smaller.
Having lived in both hemispheres, I am right now in the Northern hemisphere.
The first image seems to me what I might see in the very early evening looking west from my house, right over Matthew Elementary School.
The sun has just set in the west, and the crescent is about to follow it in about an hour.

Tomorrow evening at this same time, the moon will be 360/28 degrees further behind the sun and will therefore set about 28/360 of 24 hours later.
The lit part of the moon will be about twice as wide. (I have just decsribed waxing, )
I think that as an evening shot in the northern hemisphere the two days photos shown in sequence would indicate that the lit portion of the of the moon was growing; waxing.

In 14 days the moon would have slipped 12 hours behind the sun, and would be a full moon (or a lunar eclipse)
By the 26th day, the moon would be back towards a thin sliver, a crescent and ...

Oh now I see!
When the moon has slipped to the point where it is (26th day) visible in the east, just before sunrise, over Fred and Danny's houses, to the east of me, the crescent would appear "on the other side" of the moon.
Looking like this, pointing me towards where the sun is about to rise:-

IMG_0310_4web (1).jpg

Now I shall drift off to sleep, imagining that I am back in Southern Cross, sleeping outside, straring up at the stars.
And the moon.

Unless the picture has been mirrored of course

Quite so. I assumed no jiggery-pokey.
Although I did resort to MSPaint to create my "sunrise" shot.

Thanks Hans

[stuck]

...how can viewers be sure that it is a waxing moon, and not a waning moon?...

Read this page:
    https://www.calendrier-lunaire.fr/en/th ... ning-moon/

Ken

[RonH]

Great reprocessing Ken

[jstevens]

Chris,

Rotate the picture 180 degrees and ask the question again. Waxing or waning?

[Graeme]

But logically, how can viewers be sure that it is a waxing moon, and not a waning moon?

Because if it was waning you wouldn't see Mare Crisium and Langrenus, you would see Oceanus Procellarum and Grimaldi.

Very nice crescent Ken.

Regards

Graeme