Forensic astronomy

As a forensic science in the strict sense of the term, astronomical knowledge can help resolve certain legal questions.

More generally, questions about the Sun's or Moon's placement in the sky at certain times of day or night may be legally relevant, such as for determining the date on which a photograph was made.

[1] It has for instance been reported that Abraham Lincoln once successfully defended a legal case by describing the location of the Moon on the night of the offense.

[5] Forensic astronomy comes into play when Beesley realizes they are being rescued and noticed the sky in the east is brightened at the end of his lifeboat saying, “First a beautiful, quiet shimmer away in the east, then a soft golden glow that crept up stealthily from behind the sky-line...And next the stars died, slowly,– save one which remained long after the others just above the horizon.

Because of Beesley's descriptive view of what he saw during his rescue, allows forensic astronomy to be used to show the possibility to know where the iceberg was lying during the time of the Titanic ship wreckage.

The iceberg hit the ship and caused the plates to cripple, and create rivets for water to then seep into the gaps.

It is spring, and the general, Thomas Gage, was informed of large amounts of ammo the colonist had in Concord.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the decision was calculated, and they knew during this time there would not be much American security.

[5] A gibbous moon rises in the evening, reaches its highest at midnight, and then stays bright and peaks mainly until dawn.

A forensic astronomer, Don Olson, was brought this case by one of his colleagues who had been studying this attack.

Don Olson was able to use forensic astronomy and figure out that no one was to blame, but the Moon was farthest away from Earth two days in that year, which caused a low tide to be created.

When people look farther southwest, there is another bay and beach which can only be accessed when the tide is low called the Manneporte, which means “great portal”.

When people walked along the curve of the beach Etretat, the sun overlaps the Needle In a farther distance.