Experiment

We had a heated discussion in the pub the other day about whether the moon phase was the same the world over. If you had a horned moon with the horns pointing left as you faced them in, say, Afghanistan, how would they look in Columbia? One theory was that since the moon was quite a long way from the earth, its relationship with the sun ought to look pretty much the same from wherever on the earth you looked at it. But there were other theories and there were no winners. Apart, that is, from the boozer.

However, for the first time in many years, I have supervised a scientific experiment and can now confirm that the moon does indeed look pretty much the same from Madras (aka Chennai) as it does from London, so the aforesaid first theory is confirmed. I am grateful to UBS (see http://www.ubs.com) for making this experiment possible.

PS: there is also the question of whether horns left is a waxing or a waning moon, but that requires deeper thought. Plus the related question of why crescent moons on national flags are the way round that they are, whatever that might be, which might be one for the mullahs. A question which is complicated by the fact that, depending on how exactly the moon on the flag is made, it might be one way from one side of the flag and the other way from the other.