Hello.

I can see the moon high in the northern sky. It is close to the meridian. The left hand side of it is brightly illuminated by the sun. The terminator is slightly clockwise of vertical. Yet the sun has already set, i.e. the sun is much, much lower than the moon as I look at it. Why isn't the terminator at right-angles to the line of the sun?

I've noticed this puzzling thing many times. It is most obvious when both the sun and moon are in the sky together, and the moon is visible in daylight. Often the terminator is totally skewed to the direction of the sun. The only time I've seen the terminator orthogonal to the sun was when I"ve been near the equator and the sun and moon are passing directly overhead.

What is the explanation please?

clop