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Originally Posted by Thumper
Last month for me (40 degrees N lattitude) the Moon and at least a couple planets were very low in the sky. I tried figuring it out holding apples and oranges and thought I understood the seasonal change. However, less than a month later, the moon is extremely high in the sky for me, so much so that it looks like it rises north of east. I didn't think the change would happen so fast. Is there something about the orbit of the Moon I'm not understanding that makes its path across my sky vary so quickly? (Or am I nuts? I can accept that. )
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The seasonal change you're talking about happens once a year for the Sun as it moves around the ecliptic. When the Moon or planets are near the Sun, they'll be in the same seasonal position as the Sun: low in winter, high in summer. But when they're
opposite the Sun, they'll be appearing around midnight, and their seasonal position will be reversed: high in winter, low in summer.
Since the Moon passes right around the ecliptic in a single month, you'll see it shift from low to high and back again in that time frame. In winter, it will be low in the sky during crescent phase, but high around the time of the full moon.
Grant Hutchison