Perspective

Astronomy is a great subject to remind us how what we see and experience is often just a perspective on things rather than an actual perception of what is "out there".

Take for example, the phases of the Moon.  Do you recognize a first quarter vs. 3rd quarter Moon by which half is lit?  Well, 50% of the planet will not agree with you.  You see all those folks below the equator are looking at that same Moon more or less upside down from you:

Look at this cool time-lapse photo taken of the recent lunar eclipse from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres: (note how it goes from upper left to lower right in the North but upper right to lower left in the South)

from https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I've blogged about it before in terms of the Chinese terms for the quarter moon being more about up and down than left and right, but the truth is that which half appears lit to you depends on the season and the location of the Moon in the sky and your latitude:

https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/phase.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/Nikon/comments/j7xqb2/moonrise_and_moonset_of_the_10820_waning_gibbous/

Astronomy, Bald Spots, and Witty Students

Today, in Astronomy class while reviewing the seasons and the axial tile of the Earth for a quiz tomorrow, I pulled a classic Rideout non sequitur.  

I spontaneously made the leap from how the sunlight in Antarctica never heats up that continent despite months of continual daylight to how I discovered that I had a bald spot by getting a sunburn on the top of my head while mowing the lawn.  When I ended with something like "... and then I cried in the bathroom until I felt better", the class of seniors were all looking at me a bit strangely (it is, after all, only our 6th time meeting so it was, perhaps, bit much).

To ease the transition back into the material, I looked around the room and said, "You all thought you were taking Astronomy but really this is my therapy session."  Then, without hesitation, a student in the second row (RH) calmly asks "So, this will be on the quiz tomorrow, right?"

Well played sir, well played.