Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: John Stafford on 11/03/2010 08:30:01

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: John Stafford on 11/03/2010 08:30:01

John Stafford  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris,
This has been puzzling me for sometime :-

What time is it on the Moon?

My own view:-

I look at the Moon. My friend,who lives in Moscow, looks at the Moon at the same moment.

My watch says 7pm. My friend's watch says 10pm.

Surely this means that there can only be one moment in time? That time itself is "absolute" and we, living on planet Earth in a "relative" situation, are actually time-travellers?

Hope you can understand what I am trying to say here!

Regards,
John Stafford (a new listener (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/)).

What do you think?

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: Soul Surfer on 24/02/2011 14:36:14

As far as people on the earth are concerned and avoiding any relativity shenanigans it is Universal time.  That is the modern name for Greenwich mean time.  This is is the time that astronomers use for synchronising observations of events as seen from the earth.

To that, to be very precise, you should probably add the short delay of a couple of seconds experienced for the light from any event on the moon to be seen from the earth.

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: Kryptid on 24/02/2011 21:33:37

What time is it on the Moon? Depends on where you are on the Moon. It would be just like with Earth; what time it is on Earth depends on where you are on Earth.

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: syhprum on 26/02/2011 20:01:21

The Moon of course rotates very slowly compared to the Earth one lunar day being twenty eight Earth days so your sundial would run very slow.

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: Airthumbs on 27/02/2011 00:48:14

It's right about now  [:P]

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: Geezer on 27/02/2011 03:10:29

Slightly off topic, but is there such a thing as a lunar year? Does the Moon experience any sort of winter/summer solstice, or is the lunar month the only notable cyclic event?

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: syhprum on 27/02/2011 15:16:26

The orbit of the Moon around the Earth which accounts for its 28 Earth days long day is tilted in relation to the elliptic which accounts for the fact that we do not get a solar eclipse every month.
as the Earth Moon system rotates around the Sun the angle of illumination at the poles will vary in a similar way to which it does at the Earths poles but the effect is not as large.

Title: What time is it on the Moon?
Post by: Geezer on 27/02/2011 21:23:09

Thanks Syhprum.