38° 22 ′ S 144° 49′ E
One of the great joys of a visit to Rye is the night sky. Rye is far enough from the city lights to have truly dark skies. What is more, the weather is really quite different from that of Melbourne; there are many more cloudless skies.
Of primary importance is the state of the moon. This Moon calendar enables you to look up the phases of the moon for any date, past or future.
Notice that for us in the Southern Hemisphere the New Moon (the one seen in the early evening, just after dusk) is shaped like a letter C.
To check on the rising, setting and transit times for the Sun, visit the Time and Date web site.
Note: from this web site you can get the time of Solar Noon. This is when the Sun is due north of Melbourne.
Set your sundial to point at 12 o/clock at this time. And don't move it!
Throughout the year look up Solar Noon from time to time, this gives you the number of minutes to add to the reading on your sundial to enable you to calculate
Civil Time
(the time on your watch: either Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time depending on the time of year).
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The famous
Moon Illusion
is spectacular from Rye but you must get your timing right. Go down to the foreshore and look East (towards Mount Martha and Arthur's Seat) just as the sun goes down on the evening of the Full Moon. It is an unforgettable experience. It happens once a month and it does not cost a cent.
The moon illusion is one of the most famous of all illusions. Stated simply, the full moon, when just above the horizon, appears much larger than when it is overhead. Yet the moon, a quarter of a million miles away from the earth, always subtends the same angle wherever it is in the sky (approximately 0.5 degrees). What you are seeing is a genuine visual illusion! If you take a photograph the moon appears the correct size. The illusion is happening inside your head.
Time your visit and enjoy one of science's unsolved mysteries.
The rather beautiful film of the Moon rising behind the Byron Bay Lighthouse is, in fact, a fake. Albeit a clever fake; it greatly over emphisises the size of the moon illusion, and, one cannot photograph an illusion .
If you wish to discover more about the local sky : the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society (formerly the Astronomical Society of Frankston) holds regular Public Viewing Nights where members of the public can view the night sky through a range of telescopes, attend an audio visual presentation and enjoy a complimentary coffee, tea or cold drink. Also the MPAS also holds monthly general meetings for current and prospective members.
Visit the
MPAS web site for further details.
If, however, your interest is more Astrology then Astronomy then this is the page for you... The Zodiac web site.
You might also like to see a young Carl Sagan talk on Astrology ...
If you liked this page please do not fail to visit the page describing
Rye's Superior Mirage.
Unlike the Moon Illusion you can photograph mirages; they are not illusions!
of Perceptual Alternatives using
Arachnophilia.
and
IrfanView.
They have been tested using the ubiquitous Internet Explorer
and also with my browser of choice
Mozilla FireFox.
