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is the getting moon too big ?
today like around 11:00 pm in San Diego (California) the moon appeared to be a bit strange it seem too be a little t00 big it looked as if you were looking into a telescope .
why is it that the moon looked that way?
6 Answers
- Tiger StarLv 41 decade agoFavorite Answer
It's just an optical illusion. The Moon was probably close to the horizon, and it tends to look larger there because you have familiar-sized objects (trees, buildings, etc) to compare it against, and your brain tends to interpret it as a large object just at the "end" of the visible horizon. When it's higher up and you don't have those visual references in your direct field of vision it appears smaller. This is a well-known illusion. The Moon's actual angular size varies by about 10% due to its slightly elliptical orbit, but that's gradual over the course of several weeks and won't make a noticeable difference from one night to the next. And in the long term, the Moon is actually moving away from the Earth (by about an inch and a half a year) due to tidal acceleration.
Source(s): http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/ - Anonymous1 decade ago
The moon is actually the same size no matter what part of the sky you look at. If it was directly over head, then there is nothing there to compare it to in terms of size. But if it's in the horizon, probably what you saw, then there is something there to compare its size to. And looks bigger.
Put your thumb on the moon so it just blocks it. the next time the moon is bigger, put your thumb over the moon again to just cover it. And you will notice that your thumb is the same distance away from your face as before.
Or in English, it's an optical illusion.
- ?Lv 44 years ago
on a similar time as the lunar orbit is elliptical, the plain length ameliorations over days and weeks, no longer hours. What you describe has to do with attitude. whilst the moon is on the factor of the horizon, you evaluate it with issues on the horizon, like homes and timber. whilst it quite is severe interior the sky, you haven't any longer something to evaluate it with, and it sort of feels smaller.
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- Anonymous1 decade ago
Drugs have been scientifically proved to distort the minds perception of reality.