Huh. It just occurred to me that the phrase Last Quarter Moon may be especially incorrect.
It's confusing enough to amateur astronomer rookies these terms: a First Quarter Moon looks half-filled.
But if we're going to continue the Quarter concept, shouldn't we make a point of stating Third Quarter?
First Quarter is at approximately 7 days in, when the Moon is one-quarter of the way in its orbit around the Earth. A Full Moon is half-way (you never hear anyone saying Second Quarter...). Then at 21 days where the Moon is three fourths of the way 'round, many call this Last Quarter. But it's in 7 more days, give or take, when we experience the New Moon, that we're at position 4 of 4, or the last position...
Third Quarter Moon it is.
Change your notes!
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Addendum: the amazing wikipedia uses Third and Last Quarter interchangeably.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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