Earth-Moon System

http://www.d2photographic.com/hobbies/animation/earth-moon-system.mov

Go to the link above for the original full-quality movie. An animated model of the Earth and Moon with an emphasis on the lunar phases. Please note that the model is to scale in size, but NOT in relative distance. The Earth rotates 27.321 times while the Moon rotates once in its orbital period, keeping the same side towards Earth the whole time.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Earth
• Moon
• Orbit
• Astronomy
• Lunar
• Phases
• Bryce

[DellHell1]

Don"t the earth and the moon rotate about the earth/moon C oF G approx once per month? The fact the earth spins completely around once per day - does that matter?

[congoguy]

@DellHell1 Yes, that is a more accurate way to describe the system. Since the center of gravity is approximately 25% into Earth itself, I didn't try to animate it; I was only 15 when I made this. If you want to be really realistic, you also need to factor in the Sun's gravity on the C of G. Thanks for commenting!

[upcycle]

to be more accurate 0:06 to 0:30 , would the background of stars be making a 30 degree rotation as it goes through 1 lunar cycle? (1/12 of a 360 degrees).

In this illustration/animation the stars seem to be static in the background, as the earth and moon are rotating 1/12 of the way around the sun.

Thoughts?

[congoguy]

@upcycle Yes, it would. As destin325 mentioned correctly, this is a very simplistic model showing only the revolution of the Moon around Earth. In Bryce (software), I just used the built-in starfield, so it doesn't move in accordance with the animation, it's just static. Thank you for your very thoughtful and educated comments!

[dcsymbols]

"I love to make art and animations using Bryce 5.5."

Dan-

Perhaps you can do a vid that shows the moon earth system from above with the earth moving too.

Big Bytes

[congoguy]

I'm considering doing a remake which would show the Sun, Earth, and Moon, and maybe the inner planets as well, with changing views. Thanks for the feedback!

[Mytallpalmtree]

Mate If you made it at the age 15 you are Genius my friend. Because it really delivers the basics of the relation in very understandable way with the bonus of a track that is not going to fade for another ten years. If we go further inside the quarrel with the numbers it gets too complicated than. The fact that the MOON is distancing itself from the Earth with every spin due to the Ocean swell makes it impossible to describe the numbers and degrees inside the short animation like this. 10 stars!

[vanityaffection]

this is the youtube video i have seen showing everything i wanted to know thank you soo much

[SounzNice]

problem with this model is that it shows the moon moving around the equator which by most sources is wrong.

[destin325]

great animation! its almost comical how simplistic it is.....i laughed inside seeing all of the complexities involved playing out in 1 second intervals....really a spectacular video.....kind of a laymans understanding (but done so well that even though its complex the simplicity is astounding)

im rating five for five!

[Melchnotcoincidence]

Now we just need to change our calendar to work with the earth, moon and sun system. 28 days x 13