Monday, May 15, 2006

Full Moon Does Not Always Look The Same

This kind of goes along with my SQLCLR presentation:

While demonstrating scalar functions, I create a function to determine whether a given date is during a full moon or not (and then use that function to determine the average sales in the Adventureworks database for full moons versus all other days of the month).

Due to orbital mechanics, we don't see the exact same full moon every month. That is, the moon appears to wobble, and instead of being able to see 50% of the moon, we can actually see 59% over the course of a year.

Sound confusing? Well, just check out this animation:

http://www.photoastronomique.net/geant/0505-0604wb_800.html