今宵の月は「月」という漢字に似てる

　昨日も上弦の月を撮りましたが、今日は月齢６です。昨日に比べ、およそ１２°東へ移動し、その分、明るい所が広くなりました。

　皆さん、手の平を月に向かってかざしてください。親指から小指までの幅がおよそ１２°です。つまり、月は一日でそれだけ東に移動します。腕が長くても短くても同じです。

　肉眼では月面のクレーターは殆ど見えませんが、写真を拡大して見るとずいぶんとクレーターが見えます。月の直径３４７４㎞から推し量ると、大きいクレーターの幅は２００㎞位でしょう。

　なお、オーストラリアやニュージーランドなど南半球で、この月を同時に見ると上下が逆であり、しかも、左右も逆に見えます。つまり、左側が光ってます。しかし、時間と共に次第に西に移動するのは北半球に位置する日本で見るのと同じです。

　ところで、漢字の「月」という字は三日月の形状から生まれた象形文字と言われ、なるほど今夜の月も「月の海」と言われる少し暗い所が２本の線間ように見え「月」という漢字に似てます。

Dear my overseas friends who are interested in astronomy

　I took a picture of the waxing moon yesterday as well, and tonight it is at the 6th phase of the moon. Compared to yesterday, it has moved about 12 degrees to the east, and the bright area has expanded accordingly.

　Everyone, please hold your palm up towards the moon. The width from the thumb to the little finger is approximately 12 degrees. In other words, it moves that far east in one day. It doesn't matter if your arms are long or short.

　You can barely see the craters on the moon's surface with the naked eye, but if you zoom in this photo, you can see quite a few craters. Judging from the moon's diameter of 3,474 km, the width of the largest crater would be about 200 km, I guess.

　If you are in the southern hemisphere, such as Australia or New Zealand, and view this moon at the same time, you will see it upside down, as well as left and right. In other words, the left side is lit. However, it gradually moves westward every moment, similar to seeing in Japan which is located in the northern hemisphere.

　Not change the subject, but the kanji Chinese character for "tsuki" that means moon is said to be a hieroglyphic character derived from the shape of a crescent moon, and indeed tonight's moon is the slightly dark area looks like there are two lines. So the shape of the moon tonight is very similar to the kanji.

※上記の英文をネイティブの発音で聴くには英文をドラッグしてコピーし、次に貼り付けて下さい。なお、右上の欄を必ずUS Englishにしてください。https://ttsreader.com/ja/