# Identifying the position of the moon

I encountered the following question in a previous year paper of a graduation-based test.

On a certain night the moon in its waning phase was a half-moon. At midnight the moon will be (choose one of the following)

1. on the eastern horizon.
2. at 45 degrees angular height above the eastern horizon.
3. at the zenith.
4. on the western horizon.

I remember looking out of my window and finding the moon on left and sometimes on right. I never imagined that it would be having a fixed pattern. This question is making me think otherwise. But I am unable to decide what that pattern is. Is the position of the moon really determine-able?

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Hi @Ramit. While this may not be real homework, according to our homework policy, it is to be tagged as such, because it is "homework-like". ' – centralcharge Sep 14 '13 at 10:31
Ok, sure. That makes sense. – Ramit Sep 14 '13 at 10:39

I guess that doesn't fully answer your question, which is different from the question you reference. The moon rises about 48 minutes later each day. When the moon is full it rises as the sun sets because it is... full. 3 weeks later you have 21 days * 48 minutes = 1008 minutes or about 17 hours. If the sun sets at 6pm then the moon will rise about 17 hours later, and about an hour later, at midnight, it will be just above the eastern horizon. Hope that makes more sense :)