Thanks, Wayne, that figures -- the new moon is half a rotation away from the full moon. -- Joe ________________________________ From: Wayne Sumner <WSUMNER@dsdmail.net> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 3:51 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Annular but not by much Actually it doesn't have anything to do with Earth's orbit around the Sun (except for slight prescession). It's simply because the moon's orbit around the Earth is slightly elliptical. Every month (or so) it gets closer and farther from the Earth. The perigee and apogee points are almost exactly 180 degrees apart. Wayne Sumner CTE teacher: Astronomy & Engineering Boy's Tennis Coach cell: (801) 721-5852 ________________________________________ From: utah-astronomy-bounces+wsumner=dsdmail.net@mailman.xmission.com [utah-astronomy-bounces+wsumner=dsdmail.net@mailman.xmission.com] on behalf of jcarman6@q.com [jcarman6@q.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 12:45 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Annular but not by much Okay, not so much as a "tug" but sort of the moon is lagging behind earth in earth's orbit and so it is slightly farther away, thus the annular. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options". _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".