I saw the news of the solar eclipse in Europe and I thought of something. Everything about the moon, from eclipses to the phase of the moon, moves to the left. A lunar eclipse, the earth casting it's shadow on the moon, begins on the left side of the moon and moves to the right. A solar eclipse, the moon casting it's shadow on the earth, begins on the right side of the sun and moves to the left. With the phases of the moon, the crescent at the beginning of the cycle is to the right and the lit area moves to the left.
The earth rotates eastward and the moon moves around the earth in the same direction, to the east. So if maps were accurate, with regard to the moon, east would be to the left.
Maps throughout the world usually have, by convention, north at the top. The trouble is that this puts east to the right. For maps to be accurate, with regard to the moon from the ground, south should be at the top so that east is to the left. South at the top would make a map accurate when looking up at the moon. Having north at the top is accurate only if looking down from above the moon's orbit. Every map that I have ever seen was intended to be used below the moon's orbit.
With travel to and around the moon, isn't it about time to take it into account for maps?
This has been added to "Moving Beyond The Metric System", October 2025. I have never been entirely pleased with the Metric System so I came up with a better system. In my system, maps have south at the top.
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