If you have family or friends in different countries, it might be a comfort to know that you are all looking up at the same moon.
But it turns out that people in different countries aren’t seeing same thing at all.
Although the moon always stays the same, its appearance changes drastically depending on what hemisphere you are in.
That means someone looking at the moon from Australia will see it ‘upside down’ compared to someone in the UK.
In a viral video, a TikTok user named Corey said: ‘Why the **** are we not shown in schools that the way we see the moon in the southern hemisphere is upside down to the way it’s seen in the northern hemisphere and vice versa.
‘I moved to a different hemisphere, and I still didn’t realise it until years in.’
Corey is not alone in his confusion, as social media users have flooded the comments to express their shock.
One baffled commenter quipped: ‘Logically it checks out but emotionally I’m deeply upset and uncomfortable.’
Social media users have been baffled to discover that the moon looks different in other countries after a viral video pointed out the difference between the North and South Hemisphere
If you travelled from the UK to Australia, the moon would appear to be upside down once you arrived. This strange effect is a result of the fact that we live on a sphere
While it might seem strange, the fact that the moon can look so different is simply a consequence of the fact that we live on a sphere.
The moon itself doesn’t flip upside down when you travel from the North to the South – rather, it’s you that’s flipping, relative to the moon.
In his video, Corey says: ‘When you’re in the southern hemisphere you have to look north to see the moon, and if you’re in the northern hemisphere, you have to look south.
‘So, the way you see the moon in Brazil is different to how you see it in England, and the way you see the moon in New Zealand is different to how you see it in Japan.’
In the Northern Hemisphere, we see the moon’s dark patches on the left side and lighter regions on the right.
But for someone in the Southern Hemisphere, that image is flipped upside down.
Despite this fact being fairly well known, many social media users were baffled to discover that not everyone saw the moon the same way as them.
One commenter wrote: ‘Sorry WHAT?! How didn’t I know this.’
Social media users were shocked and ‘deeply upset’ to discover this piece of common knowledge about the moon
Many users said they had no idea that the moon would look different from a different perspective
One confused commenter said it was ‘bonkers’ that people in the Southern Hemisphere didn’t see a face in the moon
The moon looks ‘upside down’ from Australia because people in the Southern Hemisphere are upside down relative to those in the north. Pictured: The moon as seen from Sydney
‘Why is this so unsettling…’ added another.
While one baffled commenter wrote: ‘What? I’m in Australia RN, but I’m French. I’m looking at the moon all the time to remind me she’s watching over my family… And she’s upside down?!’
Most surprisingly, many of the confused TikTok users admitted that they had actually moved between hemispheres and still not noticed that the moon looked different.
One commenter wrote: ‘I moved from Brazil to Ireland six years ago and until this very moment I didn’t know that.’
Another added: ‘I’m 41 and have lived in two different countries England and New Zealand…and I’m still only just learning this.’
For others, realising that the moon can look different also sparked a host of new revelations.
‘So really we’re kinda looking at the sun upside down too,’ wrote one TikTok user.
Another pointed out: ‘Did you also know the water goes down the plughole in a different direction depending on which hemisphere you’re in?’
One social media user said they had been living in a different hemisphere for six years without noticing the difference
One commenter said they had lived in both England and New Zealand but were only realising the moon looked different now
One of the biggest questions social media users had was what the moon looks like from the equator
Likewise, another chimed in to say: ‘Yeah, most of the constellations are also upside [down] in the southern hemisphere.’
However, the question of what the moon looks like from the equator confused social media users most of all.
To think about this, it’s helpful to imagine yourself walking from the North Pole to the South Pole and thinking about how your view of the moon would change.
Since the moon orbits Earth roughly around the equator, at the North Pole the moon’s Northern Pole would appear to be at the top and the moon would be visible close to the horizon.
As the night goes on you would see the moon travelling from Southeast to Southwest, keeping its northern pole pointing upwards the entire time.
But as you walked southwards, the moon would appear to rise until it was directly overhead, rotating anticlockwise until it appeared to be on its side.
From the equator, you would see the moon rising in the east, passing directly overhead, and then setting in the west.
What is strange is that, from your perspective, the moon would appear to rotate a full 180 degrees relative to the horizon throughout the night.
Since the moon orbits roughly around the equator, someone stood on the equator would see the moon passing directly overhead from east to west
The moon would have a different side pointing towards the horizon from when it rose to when it set and would be ‘sidewise’ for someone coming from either the Northern or Southern Hemispheres
That means that the moon would have a different side pointing ‘down’ towards the horizon when it rose compared to when it set.
So, to answer what the moon looks like at the equator, you would first need to know what time it is.
If you kept travelling further South, you would see the moon continue to rotate until the southern pole was pointing directly up and away from the horizon.
From this position, the moon will once again stay low to the horizon, travelling from Northeast to Northwest and keeping its Southern Pole pointing upwards the entire time.
Although you probably wouldn’t notice in your day-to-day life, even driving a little way south or north means you will see the moon slightly differently.
In a blog post, Kate Howells, public education specialist at The Planetary Society, writes: ‘The difference between these orientations happens gradually.
‘When you travel just a short distance from the equator, the Moon will still rise more or less due east and set more or less due west, and in between will appear almost directly overhead.
‘But as you travel farther north or south, it will start to appear farther south or north in the sky, respectively.’
The phases of the moon
Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates.
The Sun always illuminates half of the Moon while the other half remains dark, but how much we are able to see of that illuminated half changes as the Moon travels through its orbit.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the phases of the moon are:
1. New Moon
This is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the illuminated side of the Moon facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth.
2. Waxing crescent
This silver sliver of a Moon occurs when the illuminated half of the Moon faces mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny portion visible to us from our planet.
3. First Quarter
The Moon is now a quarter of the way through its monthly journey and you see half of its illuminated side.
4. Waxing Gibbous
Now most of the Moon’s dayside has come into view, and the Moon appears brighter in the sky.
5. Full Moon
This is as close as we come to seeing the Sun’s illumination of the entire day side of the Moon.
6. Waning Gibbous
As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the opposite side of the Moon now reflects the Moon’s light.
7. Last Quarter
The Moon looks like it’s half illuminated from the perspective of Earth, but really you’re seeing half of the half of the Moon that’s illuminated by the Sun ― or a quarter.
8. Waning Crescent
The Moon is nearly back to the point in its orbit where its dayside directly faces the Sun, and all that we see from our perspective is a thin curve.
