mart360

As i was coming home this evening, the moon was just coming over the horizon,

it looked bloody massive, yet by the time i had reached home, it was much smaller, and now its its usual size.

can someone explain why?? I thought that the moon was a fixed distance away from us, and stayed constant.


Mart

Jamie

Do you take drugs ?

Have you been crapping a lot ??

lightning101

It is an optical illusion. There are a number of ways to prove this. First Hold you little finger up in front of your face and compare it to the size of the moon. Later in the evening do it again. You will notice that it is the same both times.

Second, bend over and look at the Moon between your legs. This position changes your perspective allowing you to get a better judgement of the Moon's size

HTH

richiewong

Was it like a big pizza pie

Iain Young

As lightning said, it's an optical illusion.

It's because when it's low in the sky (near the ground) you've got objects to compare it against (tree, houses etc), but when it's high in the sky, there's nothing other than stars and so your eye / brain evaluates the size differently...

mart360

thanks for that .. it makes sense, unlike the others???

mart

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Yep, it's an optical illusion, pretty cool one though huh?

This explains how.

Ratman

The Moon IS larger when it's nearer the ground. It has to use up some of it's mass to rise up in the sky, so it shrinks. Just camp out on the top of a hill one night with your deckchair, thermos, pencil, notepad and ruler to measure it with as it rises to prove it.

Ratman