Skip to main content
Worldbuilding

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

7
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Once more, Kerbal Space Program provides a useful example. (Duna, KSP's Mars-analogue, has a single huge moon called Ike that it's mutually tide-locked with, somewhat like the real-world Pluto-Charon system.) $\endgroup$
    – Ilmari Karonen
    Commented Feb 20, 2017 at 9:13
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Yes, the moon would wax and wane in one day. The phase has little to do with the observers location, it is purely how much of the moon that is facing the sun that the observer can see. Two observers at different longitudes would see different phases. $\endgroup$
    – Paul Smith
    Commented Feb 20, 2017 at 12:05
  • $\begingroup$ @PaulSmith, wait. So different latitudes see different moon positions and different longitudes will see different phases at the same time for the same moon position???. Observers would also see the moon either a little bigger or smaller depending on their longitude??? $\endgroup$
    – EveryBitHelps
    Commented Feb 20, 2017 at 12:44
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @EveryBitHelps Yes. Text moved to an answer. $\endgroup$
    – Paul Smith
    Commented Feb 20, 2017 at 13:43
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @EveryBitHelps Yes, and those effects will be significant (in astronomic scale). For example: geostationary orbit has radius of ~35700 kilometres, while Earth radius is ~6400 kilometres. Observer at equator, where moon is in zenith is 29300 km away, while observer at pole or at any longitude 90 degrees away from moon-zenith spot would be 36300 km away from moon, and there moon will appear 35% smaller. $\endgroup$
    – M i ech
    Commented Feb 20, 2017 at 17:30