Quarter Moon

Q: Can people in different countries see different phases of the Moon on the same day? A: No, everyone sees the same phases of the Moon. (People north and south of the equator do see the Moon’s current phase from different angles, though.

Bottom line: You can see the moon during the day whenever it’s fairly large in phase and fairly far from the sun on the sky’s dome. So you need to know the date of full moon to know when to see a daytime moon.

The side of the Moon and its phases vary depending on our location on Earth. The moon is seen in the south. East, where the sun and moon rises, is to the left, and west (sunset and moonset) is on the right. The sun and the moon seem to move across the sky from right to left.

As you might know, the moon’s orientation in your sky also changes as you move in latitude, northward or southward, on Earth’s globe. Thanks, Andy! Everyone looking up at the moon from any spot on the globe sees the same moon, in more or less the same phase. Moon phase is a whole-Earth phenomenon.

So, does the Moon really affect our health and mood? There is no absolute proof that the Moon affects human mental and physical health, though its effect has been observed in other organisms: corals for instance appear to time their spawning based on the lunar cycle.

New research shows that on nights before a full moon, people sleep less and go to bed later on average. The pattern’s ubiquity, which was observed in urban and rural settings, may indicate that our natural circadian rhythms are somehow synchronized with the phases of the lunar cycle.

First, the gravitational effects of the moon are far too minuscule to generate any meaningful effects on brain activity, let alone behavior. Third, the gravitational effect of the moon is just as potent during new moons—when the moon is invisible to us—as it is during full moons.