Moon Orbit Aberations

December 18

Early this morning, Thursday, in El Paso, the moonrise was way South. Last night the azimuth was about 110° . I usually stand in the same location. Dec 14-15 the moon came if way North of the street light pole. This morning it came up way South of the pole. I think Earth bumped up in its ecliptic yesterday. [Note: Moon rise at 4:00 AM per Skymap should have been 97°]

 

December 13

Last night, Saturday, in El Paso the Moonrise was at 21:27 hrs, MST. It rose above the Hueco Mountains 50 degrees SE of Magnetic North (previous angle was 40 degrees). [Note: the Moon rose over an hour early, and still too far north.]

 

December 3

Last nite, 0100 hrs, MST, 12-04-03, relative to magnetic North, I calculated the Moon to be (azimuth) at 250°. However, USNO Data Service shows it to be 261.8 at Altitude 24.5° . Moon reached transit at 2145 hrs, MST. USNO gave 2116 for El Paso. In relation to El Paso, moon was 21° S of vertical. Using a 24.25 CM level, moon cast a 10 CM shadow, making tri-angle 90°,69°,21°. Hypotenuse was 25.8 CM. [Moon too far south by 12° , late by 29 minutes.]

 

December 1

In Denver, Colorado, tonight [Dec 1] at 5:00 PM I noticed the moon directly overhead. When I left work at 7:00 PM the moon had not budged an inch! As I drove upto the driveway, the moon at 7:50 PM was still hanging in the same spot! [and from another source] At 5PM last eafternoon, I was driving east in Montana. The moon was at half moon, to my right, due south. At 9 PM stated the moon seemed to be swinging north to south to set lately. I looked and sure enough there was the moon, still due south, but about 1/3rd lower in the sky. At 11:35 PM I decided to get some wood for our stove. That moon was still due south, but had dropped to a position where it was about to go down.The moon appeared to be setting North to South.