Talk:Lunar standstill

Names
Why is it called a standstill? Can we have something about the minor ss in the lead? Rich  Farmbrough. 11:40, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I am betting this isn't currently up to date; any takers?
The next major lunar standstill occurs in 2006. - A bit of a rush if this is accurate :D -- Cimon Avaro; on a pogostick. 07:29, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Most of the article was written in early 2006, before the standstill, and I wrote it to answer the many queries I was getting on when would it happen and what it was. We could now arguably delete the section giving all the dates, except that some folk still worry about dates. I'm amenable to argument either way. Anyway, I've modified it to make it clear this happened in the past. Maybe in a few years someone will update it for the next minor standstill in 2015. But probably not me! Rayd8 | User talk:Rayd8 11:01, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Declination and altitude
It seems to me the article is correct in the way it describes the moon's changing declination but goes a bit wrong when it relates this to the altitude over the horizon. The moon moves above and below the horizon every 24 hours. What we are talking about is its highest altitude (i.e. when it is culminating due south on the observer's meridian). I have edited the article (unfortunately making it a bit more complicated).

For my taste, the article concentrates too much on the instants of standstill although this may interest some present day observers, I don't know. What would have interested neolithic folk in relation to their positioning of megaliths would be the azimuth (compass direction) of moonrise and moonset. For example, around the general time of major standstill moonrise and moonset can reach as far towards the north (northeast and northwest) as possible. I have added a section showing figures for a particular latitude (55°, the latitude chosen by Thom).

However, wait for corrections from experts! Thincat (talk) 14:34, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

Terminological confusion
This article should make it clear in the lead what it is talking about. As Ruggles (Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, p. 36) points out, the term Lunar standstill is ambiguous, sometimes being used to refer to the time when the lunar swing is widest or narrowest, sometimes to refer to the limiting declinations themselves. In fact, there are two postitional extrema here, the monthly extreme of the moon's motion (which has been called the lunistice by analogy to the solstice) and the extreme values of the position of the lunistices, which it reaches every 18.61 years. Ruggles proposed calling these long term extrema the "major standstill limits" and "minor standstill limits." Thom, on the other hand (Megalithic Lunar Observatories, pp. 18-19) appeared to use the term "limits" to refer to the monthly extrema of the lunar declination, while he used the terms major and minor standstill for the time when the limits are at the extremes of the 18.61 year cycle.

Both Ruggles and Thom use the term standstill to refer to a time, and I suggest that is a point to start the clarification. I'll let this suggestion sit here for comments before beginning to edit. SteveMcCluskey (talk) 15:29, 27 July 2013 (UTC)

zodiac

 * Presently the northern lunistice occurs when the moon is in Taurus, northern Orion, Gemini, or sometimes the southernmost part of Auriga (as at the time of a major lunistice). The southern lunistice occurs when the moon is in Sagittarius or Ophiuchus. …

This can't be right if the draconic month is significantly shorter than the sidereal month; so I guess it means major lunistices? —Tamfang (talk) 22:39, 7 May 2023 (UTC)