On 12/28/2020 12:19 AM, Daniel65 wrote:
Justin Tyme wrote on 28/12/2020 2:01 am:
By cartwheel, I mean appear to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise
throughout the course of the night? Or, is is supposed to appear
stationary from a fixed point on earth?

A fair question is "Why don't you go outside and look?" My answer is
that I have and while the first few times the moon seemed to stay in
place, the last few times I have looked it had, indeed, appeared to
have rotated 45 degrees or so clockwise over the course of several hours.

I would think that the Moon's Axis always points in the same Galactic
direction as the Earth's Axis. Sort of!! Give or take!!

So, at Moonrise, the Moon's Axis would, effectively, be lieing on the
Earth's Eastern Horizon with the Moon's North Pole pointing towards the
North.

At Moon noon, the Moon's Axis would be directly overhead, with the
Moon's North Pole pointing towards the North.

At Moonset, the Moon's Axis would, effectively, be lieing on the Earth's
Western Horizon with the Moon's North Pole pointing towards the North.

So, let's say I'm in the midwestern US. And at the beginning of the
night the "face" of the moon is in one place: pretty much upright, a
little left of center, "eyes" toward the top. At 3am it's like the moon
is a dial, the eyes are way on the right side as I view it.

I'm just trying to get a handle on this. In the past I have not been
very observant, but I always thought the "face" was in the same place.

I realize that this is probably more what is happening with the earth
than the moon.