5 ms·

Ask HN: Pattern of Moon

1 points by andrewfromx 6y ago

Is there any open source code to produce these events: https://gist.github.com/andrewarrow/b6c39c8898e6ae7c1d3fed6f35b150c7 i.e. I got this data from https://www.mooninfo.org/moon-phases/new-moon-2022.html https://www.mooninfo.org/moon-phases/new-moon-2023.html etc for all the years from 2003-2030 but how do I go on to 2040 etc. Does this pattern just repeat?

ksaj 6y ago
While I don't know the answer to your question, a term that might lead you toward the answer is "sidereal." A sidereal month is 27 days plus a bunch of hours and minutes. That's how long it takes the Moon to go around the Earth. But a full Moon phase as we see it because of the Sun (New Moon to the next New Moon) is 29 days plus some hours and minutes. There is also the fact that the moon isn't in a perfectly central orbit, which is why we have super moon events. And then there is tidal locking that tends to act as a stabilizer. Surely that impacts this all, but I don't know if and or how. But with the two cycles - moon phases and sidereal months, you can probably work out if there have been deviations beyond that generalized pattern in the past, or if our leap years and seconds counter the effect. The timing between sidereal months and the moon phases is bound to show the patterns if there are any. Interesting question for sure.
- andrewfromx 6y ago
  Thanks! The other weird thing I noticed is 1347840 1+3+4+7+8+4+0=27 2+7=9 The number of seconds between each event. If you add up the digits to a single digit you get either 9 3 or 6 always. In this weird pattern.
  - ksaj 6y ago
    This should interest you then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casting_out_nines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casting_out_nines I think you are seeing the result of there being 86400 seconds in a day. Dividing them out gives you results that are evenly divisible by 9. * (/ 86400 9) 9600 * (/ (/ 86400 24) 9) 400 * (/ (/ 86400 60) 9) 160 So it's pretty hard to avoid reaching 9 with numbers that cycle in base 24 (hours) and base 60 (seconds/minute and minutes/hour) together. For example, there is this connection that looks like a coincidence until you think it through: * (/ 86400 60) 1440 * (* 24 60) 1440 And of course, casting out 9's there produces your favourite number yet again: * (+ 8 6 4 0 0) 18 * (+ 1 8) 9 * (+ 1 4 4 0) 9
    - andrewfromx 6y ago
      hmmmm what does it MEAN? So the number of seconds between each moon always comes out to 3 6 or 9 in a pattern like: 6 6 6 9 3 9 9 9 6 3 6 3 3 3 9 6 9 3 9 3 3 9 9 6 6 3 9 6 9 9 3 3 9 6 3 3 9 6 3 3 3 9 9 6 9 9 6 6 6 6 3 9 3 9 6 3 3 3 9 6 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 9 9 6 3 3 6 3 9 6 9 3 9 3 9 6 6 6 6 6 9 9 9 9 6 6 9 3 6 3 what is the moon trying to tell us?
      - andrewfromx 6y ago
        if you replace 3 with 0, 6 with 1 and 9 with 2: 1 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 2 0 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 it seems more like a qbit quantum computer "binary" number.
        ksaj 6y ago
        Scroll back up to my reply. I added more to it. There is nothing the moon is "trying to tell us." It has everything to do with the number of seconds in a day, and everything divisible by 9 is also divisible by 3. EDIT: And the above has nothing to do with quantum anything. You have incorrectly turned the numbers into trinary numbers. There is nothing mathematical about doing that because it was assigned arbitrarily.
    - andrewfromx 6y ago
      Hmm the number days between events ranges from 13.91 to 15.61 always some weird fraction of days. If you look at today's data: 1237320 2021 April 12 2:32 UTC 14.32 1299660 2021 April 27 3:33 UTC 15.04 It was 14.32 days since the last one and will be 15.04 days until the next one. How does 86400 relate to 1299660 will "advance" to 1265280 on May 11?

1 points by andrewfromx 6y ago

ksaj 6y ago

While I don't know the answer to your question, a term that might lead you toward the answer is "sidereal." A sidereal month is 27 days plus a bunch of hours and minutes. That's how long it takes the Moon to go around the Earth. But a full Moon phase as we see it because of the Sun (New Moon to the next New Moon) is 29 days plus some hours and minutes. There is also the fact that the moon isn't in a perfectly central orbit, which is why we have super moon events. And then there is tidal locking that tends to act as a stabilizer. Surely that impacts this all, but I don't know if and or how. But with the two cycles - moon phases and sidereal months, you can probably work out if there have been deviations beyond that generalized pattern in the past, or if our leap years and seconds counter the effect. The timing between sidereal months and the moon phases is bound to show the patterns if there are any. Interesting question for sure.

andrewfromx 6y ago
Thanks! The other weird thing I noticed is 1347840 1+3+4+7+8+4+0=27 2+7=9 The number of seconds between each event. If you add up the digits to a single digit you get either 9 3 or 6 always. In this weird pattern.
- ksaj 6y ago
  This should interest you then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casting_out_nines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casting_out_nines I think you are seeing the result of there being 86400 seconds in a day. Dividing them out gives you results that are evenly divisible by 9. * (/ 86400 9) 9600 * (/ (/ 86400 24) 9) 400 * (/ (/ 86400 60) 9) 160 So it's pretty hard to avoid reaching 9 with numbers that cycle in base 24 (hours) and base 60 (seconds/minute and minutes/hour) together. For example, there is this connection that looks like a coincidence until you think it through: * (/ 86400 60) 1440 * (* 24 60) 1440 And of course, casting out 9's there produces your favourite number yet again: * (+ 8 6 4 0 0) 18 * (+ 1 8) 9 * (+ 1 4 4 0) 9
  - andrewfromx 6y ago
    hmmmm what does it MEAN? So the number of seconds between each moon always comes out to 3 6 or 9 in a pattern like: 6 6 6 9 3 9 9 9 6 3 6 3 3 3 9 6 9 3 9 3 3 9 9 6 6 3 9 6 9 9 3 3 9 6 3 3 9 6 3 3 3 9 9 6 9 9 6 6 6 6 3 9 3 9 6 3 3 3 9 6 3 6 6 6 6 6 6 9 9 6 3 3 6 3 9 6 9 3 9 3 9 6 6 6 6 6 9 9 9 9 6 6 9 3 6 3 what is the moon trying to tell us?
    - andrewfromx 6y ago
      if you replace 3 with 0, 6 with 1 and 9 with 2: 1 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 2 0 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 it seems more like a qbit quantum computer "binary" number.
      - ksaj 6y ago
        Scroll back up to my reply. I added more to it. There is nothing the moon is "trying to tell us." It has everything to do with the number of seconds in a day, and everything divisible by 9 is also divisible by 3. EDIT: And the above has nothing to do with quantum anything. You have incorrectly turned the numbers into trinary numbers. There is nothing mathematical about doing that because it was assigned arbitrarily.
  - andrewfromx 6y ago
    Hmm the number days between events ranges from 13.91 to 15.61 always some weird fraction of days. If you look at today's data: 1237320 2021 April 12 2:32 UTC 14.32 1299660 2021 April 27 3:33 UTC 15.04 It was 14.32 days since the last one and will be 15.04 days until the next one. How does 86400 relate to 1299660 will "advance" to 1265280 on May 11?