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- TL;DR Summary
- Observing a waning gibbous moon at about 8.00am one morning it appeared that its direction of illumination, a downwards angle of about 45º, could not be coming from the sun as the sun was much lower in the sky.
Researching this I found that the usual explanation was that it was an 'illusion'. However this explanation, in my opinion, does not stand-up to the laws governing the transmission of light. I proposed that as light travels in a straight line this poses a problem for moon tilt.
Most of the explanations appealed to the curved lines on panoramic photos whilst others appealed to the great circle of an imaginary celestial sphere.
I used, as an example, a football illuminated by a bright light. It is easy to see the direction of the light from observing the illuminated part of the football and tracing back in a straight line to the light. Why cannot the same reasoning be applied to the moon and sun since it is only a matter of scale?
Most of the explanations appealed to the curved lines on panoramic photos whilst others appealed to the great circle of an imaginary celestial sphere.
I used, as an example, a football illuminated by a bright light. It is easy to see the direction of the light from observing the illuminated part of the football and tracing back in a straight line to the light. Why cannot the same reasoning be applied to the moon and sun since it is only a matter of scale?