Reader Q&A: Does the Moon look “upside down” in the southern hemisphere?
Asked by: Millie Granger, London
In fact, the Moon is seen “backwards” in the southern hemisphere compared to the northern hemisphere. This is simply a matter of orientation.
Imagine if the Moon orbited in the same plane as the equator. If you were in the northern hemisphere, the Moon would always appear in the southern sky, since that is the direction of the equator. The opposite is true in the southern hemisphere: the Moon would appear in the northern sky.
So these two observers look at the same object from opposite directions and naturally that means that one sees the object flipped compared to the other. This means that the “Man on the Moon” is upside down in the southern hemisphere, and may actually look more like a rabbit.
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