Look in a local newspaper or on the Positional Astronomy Centre (India Meteorological Department) website to find the moonrise time in your area. Check these times for several days in a row and you will see that the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day.

Question

Accepted Answer

Do this for a week and the delay turns out to be strikingly steady. The chapter's own two readings show it:

Moonrise on 7 April 2025 = 14:23
Moonrise on 8 April 2025 = 15:17
Delay = 15:17 − 14:23 = 54 minutes

Different days give slightly different values — usually between about 30 and 70 minutes — but the average over a month is close to 50 minutes.

Why it happens: In the 24 hours the Earth takes to turn once, the Moon has moved about 12° further along its orbit (360° ÷ 29.5 days). The Earth then has to turn that extra 12° to bring the Moon back to your horizon, and at 15° per hour that takes about 49 minutes.

In one full rotation of the Earth the Moon has run ahead about 12° in its orbit, so the Earth must turn roughly 50 minutes more to point you at the Moon again.

The same table also kills the common belief in the box. Moonrise matches sunset only on full Moon day. Through the month it walks right round the clock:

Phase	Moon rises about	Moon is overhead about	Moon sets about
New Moon	Sunrise	Noon	Sunset
Half Moon, waxing	Noon	Sunset	Midnight
Gibbous, waxing	Mid-afternoon (2–4 p.m.)	Late evening	Early morning
Full Moon	Sunset	Midnight	Sunrise
Half Moon, waning	Midnight	Sunrise	Noon

Tip: The listed moonrise time is the moment the Moon's edge touches the horizon. Wait about 30 minutes for it to climb clear of trees and buildings before you look for it.

NCERT Solutions Curiosity Chapter 11 .1.2 Locating the Moon — A step further