¿ªÔÆÌåÓýYes Paul, there is something called a lunastice (also called a standstill point). The Sun¡¯s standstill points occur at the solstices. The June solstice is the point in the orbit of the earth around the Sun where the Sun rises at its most northern point of the year. The Sun moves along a N-S axis and at the June solstice its rising point appears to stop and then reverse direction and begins moving southward. Sol sistere is latin for Sun stands still, hence, solstice.So some loony astronomer decided that if the Sun has a solstice the Moon should have one too. I hadn¡¯t heard of this before but it does exist. It is the point at which the Moon reaches its farthest N and farthest S rising during a month (the word month comes from, guess which celestial object?). Should be spelled moonth. But wait, there is more to this. The Moon goes through an 18.6 yr. cycle and the standstill point varies from 18.134¡ã(N or S) the major standstill and 28.725¡ã (N or S) the minor standstill. So a quick when does this occur? It occurs when the Moon's tilt with respect to the ecliptic is >=5¡ã so that the total apparent tilt of the Moon and Earth add to 28.5¡ã. The tilt of the Earth on its axis with respect to the celestial equator is ~23.5¡ã. It is just that this is occurring now until sometime into 2025. Ain¡¯t you sorry that you asked :>) 73 Howard N6POM
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