Phases Of The Moon.

[Atheist]

21:47 here in France, and the three-quarter moon is to my south and the sun has not quite set. The moon seems to be illuminated from just above the horizontal, but the sun appears to be well below the horizontal. This is one of my weak spots in visualising the relative position of heavenly bodies. Can anyone explain?

[Gizmonster]

It's all a matter of perspective.
Just remember that when you're looking at the sun and moon, the sun is approx 380 times further from the earth than the moon is, so things are not as they might appear ..... you need to try and visualise it 3 dimensionally rather than 2 dimensionally.

[mushroom25]

here in the UK at your 21:47 it was 20:47, but only because of the artificial time zones - the better part of France is actually west of the 0deg meridian so should be in the same time zone. Here though the sun hadn't quite set, this is because the UK is further north and in the summer has a longer daylight day. just another factor to consider in the 3 dimensional model highlighted by Giz.

[Atheist]

Thanks, jura; I was actually also watching squadrons of swallows whistling up their evening meal of airborne insects.
Giz and Mush; I'll ponder your words. Thank you, all.

...I've pondered a bit. The sun's rays hitting me on the ground are parallel with the rays hitting the moon, so if the line between dark moon and sunlit moon is tilted back so that the perpendicular towards the sun is well above the horizon, then the sun should also be well above. But it isn't, so I'll have to keep pondering. Thank you.

[Atheist]

jura; BTW, it isn't a chateau. Anyway maybe I'll dream about your heavenly body tonight. Bonne nuit. Bisous.

[mibn2cweus]

As Gizmo pointed out, it's a matter of perspective. Moon is now slightly below ecliptic.