Theamount of time depends on how thin the crescent is. The crescent moon is seen at night only shortly after sunset or shortly before sunrise. Here are some basic rules whichalso follow from simple lighting considerations.ġ. The Time of NightOnce the artist has passed the first test of at least getting the moon to be truly indicating that it isnight time, let us consider the next implication: the time of night. Is the moon right in this picture? As far as this first test is concerned, yes, the sun isalmost exactly on the line perpendicular to the horns of the crescent. cartoon which specifically addresses the issue that the moon is often seen inthe daytime. That saddest thing to me, is that after this mistake appeared in anastronomy magazine, no one wrote in to point out the error.
The sun would have to be about as high as themoon above the horizon. But what about that moon? Where must the sun be for the crescent to be that shape? That's right, it's almost identical to the cartoon. It appears to be a beautiful night on thebeach. So how common is this mistake? Is it only in cartoons? Consider the following picture, whichwas taken from Sky and Telescope Magazine (for shame!). But if the sun were that high above thehorizon, it would have to be daytime! So by merely considering the lighting, we can see that wehave an impossible picture here. cartoon, the sun would have to left to the left of the moon and nearly ashigh above the horizon, as shown in this illustration. Now astronomy can tell us just how far away the sun should be from the moon, but for this firstkind of mistake, all that is necessary is to know that, very often, the picture implies that the sun isabove the horizon, and so it must be daytime and not night time.įor example, in the B.C. Thesun must be lighting up those two sides of the crescent equally, so it must be on a line that isperpendicular to the line connecting the two points on the crescent, as shown in the illustration. One can determine where the sun must be by looking at where the ends of the crescent are. Where must the sun be in order to light the moon as shown? What is it that lights up the lit part of the moon. Clearly the dark sky and moon are there to indicate that this is not an afternoonnap. Consider the opening scene in a B.C.cartoon at right. Often it is only to indicate that it is night time. Why do artists even put the moon inthe picture. Simplelighting considerations are all that one needs to think about.
The Day-Night TestOne of the most common mistakes doesn't really require any astronomy to recognize. Let's see just how,by considering three kinds of mistakes artists unwittingly make. If the location of the scene is known, then the crescent notonly indicates the time of day, but also the direction and the season of the year. It turns out that the mostinformation is implied by the thin crescent moon, which artists often include so that people willdefinitely recognize it as the moon.
But there are many subtle implicationswhen the moon is included in a picture, which the trained eye notices. The moon is something that is so familiar that one might think that an artist could draw it easily in apainting without having an advanced degree in astronomy.
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