<p>It depends on the season and even more on latitude.</p>

<p>At any given time, the same side of the Moon faces the Sun.  Where you stand on Earth doesn't change which part of the Moon is lit, but if you think about the orientation of people on the earth, people in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are "upside down" to each other and people on the equator are perpendicular.   The Moon doesn't change but the point of view of people on Earth relative to the Earth's surface makes a full 360 degrees of rotation based on latitude, so the same moon at the same time can appear as a left crescent, a right cresent, a boat and a yamaka depending on the person's latitude at the time of viewing.</p>

<p>Also <a href="http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/physics/46-our-solar-system/the-moon/observing-the-moon/124-is-the-moon-seen-as-a-crescent-and-not-a-boat-all-over-the-world-is-the-same-phase-of-the-moon-visible-from-the-northern-and-southern-hemispheres-advanced" rel="noreferrer">explained here</a>.</p>

<p>And this should probably be astronomy.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-19T20:51:44.037Z
2017-07-19T20:51:44.037Z
userLTK
<p>The explanation would be that the sun at that moment was deep below earth's horizon (in other words, at the place the asker was looking at the moon it would probably have been around midnight) and illuminating the moon from that point.</p>

<p>The crescent itself shows the direction from which the sun is shining at that moment. If, keeping looking in the direction of the moon, you had lowered your gaze towards your feet, and you'd been able to see through earth, you would have seen the sun.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-09T21:01:51.817Z
2017-10-10T20:08:14.583Z
2017-10-10T20:08:14.583Z
Obiwan KeNoobie
<p>A few months ago I was in car and noticed moon. You could see bottom half (in crescent shape) but not top half.</p>

<p>How is this possible to look up into night sky and see only bottom half of moon?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-19T18:19:24.063Z
A cloud obscuring the top half?
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-19T21:20:33.707Z
I can't speak to the processes (I've looked into them and understood them before, but don't work with them enough to be on top of them, certainly not to be comfortable in describing!)... but do have a nice link that will give some credence to what's possible.  And found a date with indeed an almost total bottom half crescent: http://www.mooncalc.org/#/28.5383,-81.3792,11/2019.12.21/02:38/1/0  The crescent direction doesn't seem to be keyed by time of year, so must have something to do with variations in the earth-moon planes?
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-20T06:42:56.450Z
I think you need to clarify what you mean by "bottom half".  Do you mean half of a crescent (my original assumption), or just a crescent near the horizon, as in this artwork: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/files/2011/11/nielsen_sunsetnorthpole.jpg
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-20T10:28:01.477Z
As you can see from the answer, please [edit] your question and **add your location** at the time. And do us the courtesy of making *a few months ago* specific (Yes, we can deduce it from the date your originally asked)
Jan Doggen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-20T10:34:06.450Z
Related: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1539/when-we-see-half-moon-why-is-it-always-the-lower-half
Jan Doggen
<moon>
How is it possible that only the bottom half of the moon was showing?
John
# How is it possible that only the bottom half of the moon was showing?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-19)

A few months ago I was in car and noticed moon. You could see bottom half (in crescent shape) but not top half.

How is this possible to look up into night sky and see only bottom half of moon?

**Tags:** moon

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: A cloud obscuring the top half?  
> **username_2**: I can't speak to the processes (I've looked into them and understood them before, but don't work with them enough to be on top of them, certainly not to be comfortable in describing!)... but do have a nice link that will give some credence to what's possible.  And found a date with indeed an almost total bottom half crescent: http://www.mooncalc.org/#/28.5383,-81.3792,11/2019.12.21/02:38/1/0  The crescent direction doesn't seem to be keyed by time of year, so must have something to do with variations in the earth-moon planes?  
> **username_1**: I think you need to clarify what you mean by "bottom half".  Do you mean half of a crescent (my original assumption), or just a crescent near the horizon, as in this artwork: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/files/2011/11/nielsen_sunsetnorthpole.jpg  
> **username_3**: As you can see from the answer, please [edit] your question and **add your location** at the time. And do us the courtesy of making *a few months ago* specific (Yes, we can deduce it from the date your originally asked)  
> **username_3**: Related: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1539/when-we-see-half-moon-why-is-it-always-the-lower-half  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-07-19. Score: 6

It depends on the season and even more on latitude.

At any given time, the same side of the Moon faces the Sun. Where you stand on Earth doesn't change which part of the Moon is lit, but if you think about the orientation of people on the earth, people in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are "upside down" to each other and people on the equator are perpendicular. The Moon doesn't change but the point of view of people on Earth relative to the Earth's surface makes a full 360 degrees of rotation based on latitude, so the same moon at the same time can appear as a left crescent, a right cresent, a boat and a yamaka depending on the person's latitude at the time of viewing.

Also [explained here](http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/physics/46-our-solar-system/the-moon/observing-the-moon/124-is-the-moon-seen-as-a-crescent-and-not-a-boat-all-over-the-world-is-the-same-phase-of-the-moon-visible-from-the-northern-and-southern-hemispheres-advanced).

And this should probably be astronomy.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2017-10-09. Score: 0

The explanation would be that the sun at that moment was deep below earth's horizon (in other words, at the place the asker was looking at the moon it would probably have been around midnight) and illuminating the moon from that point.

The crescent itself shows the direction from which the sun is shining at that moment. If, keeping looking in the direction of the moon, you had lowered your gaze towards your feet, and you'd been able to see through earth, you would have seen the sun.


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