Follow the Sun and Moon from Wauwatosa, WI. Move through a day to see day and night, or through a month to watch the Moon’s phases change.
This is a view from above Earth’s orbit. The marker is your chosen place. It turns with Earth.
See why that tilt matters. How Moon positions are calculated · How Sun times are calculated.
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Height: 0° is the horizon. Below 0° means below the horizon.
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Follow the marker as Earth turns. Compare the Moon in space with the Moon disc seen from the ground.
Make a guess. Try it. Then check what you noticed.
When will your place move into darkness?
Press Play. Follow the dot on Earth as it crosses into the dark half.
Earth spins once in about 24 hours. Your place has day when it faces the Sun, and night when it faces away.
Will the Moon disc stay the same shape?
Press Play. Compare the Moon’s place in space with the disc seen from the ground.
We see different amounts of the Moon’s sunlit half. These shapes are called Moon phases.
Will the Moon be in the same place 24 hours later?
Press this button several times. Watch the Moon move while Earth makes each turn.
The Moon travels along its own orbit while Earth spins. Its position and rise time change from day to day. Explore Moon rise times.
It marks the place you chose. Earth spins, so the dot moves into sunlight and then into darkness. That is day and night.
The big scene looks down from space. The Moon disc shows the view from the ground. Compare them to see how our view of the Moon’s sunlit half makes its phases.
Yes. The Moon can be above the horizon while the Sun is up too. Look for a time when both height readings are above 0°. Clouds and bright sunlight may make it hard to see outside.
0° is the horizon, where the sky meets the ground. Positive numbers mean above it. Negative numbers mean below it. 90° is straight overhead. Direction tells you which way to face.
The Moon takes about 27.3 days to go around Earth compared with the distant stars. A full cycle of phases takes about 29.5 days. Earth moves around the Sun too, so the Moon must travel a little farther to reach the same Sun angle.
At 43.0° north, Wauwatosa has a moderate swing through the year — 15 h 22 m of daylight at the longest day and 9 h 0 m at the shortest — and the sun never quite reaches straight overhead.
Nearby, for a side-by-side: West Allis, WI (2 mi) · Brookfield, WI (5 mi) · Milwaukee, WI (5 mi) · Greenfield, WI (6 mi) · New Berlin, WI (7 mi) · Waukesha, WI (12 mi).
