2008-12-14
Lunar madness
Reading a book I'm wanting to shake the author.
He's making *horrid* mistakes about lunar phases.
First instance was mentioning a full moon about "a third of the way to the zenith". Ok, no prob. Except it's late afternoon.
Not possible. Not even on an alien planet.
Another scene some weeks later has a half full moon near the horizon at dawn. Also not possible.
Y'see, the phase of the moon is determined by the angle between the moon and the sun.
At full, they are 180 degrees apart. So the moon is rising as the sun sets.
At half, they are 90 degrees apart. And so on.
He's making *horrid* mistakes about lunar phases.
First instance was mentioning a full moon about "a third of the way to the zenith". Ok, no prob. Except it's late afternoon.
Not possible. Not even on an alien planet.
Another scene some weeks later has a half full moon near the horizon at dawn. Also not possible.
Y'see, the phase of the moon is determined by the angle between the moon and the sun.
At full, they are 180 degrees apart. So the moon is rising as the sun sets.
At half, they are 90 degrees apart. And so on.
Top 50 SF books
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acelightning)
The top fifty SF books. Bold the ones you've read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn't get through. Asterisks for the ones you loved - more asterisks, more love. (addition fromgriffen + the ones you own)
( Read more... )
acelightning)The top fifty SF books. Bold the ones you've read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn't get through. Asterisks for the ones you loved - more asterisks, more love. (addition from
griffen + the ones you own)( Read more... )