The Moon Illusion
Thursday, August 25, 2005
This is one of those
weird natural phenomena that is not fully explained yet.
If you don't know about it, try the following:
- In a full moon week, look out to where the moon is just peeking through on the horizon
- Keep looking until the moon is fully out, but just above the horizon
- Marvel at the cheese like characteristics of the moon and how close to the earth it seems - And also how big it looks
- Go do whatever you do at night
- After doing whatever you do at night, search for the moon again as it should be higher above the horizon
If you are part of the majority in the population, you'll notice that the earlier moon is bigger than the latter moon.
Why?
Intuitively, you'd think that the earth is moving around, therefore the moon is at a different distance from your coordinates - However, that is not the case. The moon's diameter stays constant throughout the whole night.
What you are seeing is actually an optical illusion.
No one really knows for certain the cause of the illusion. However, there are a few people that have studied the phenomenon and have come up with long
(plausible) explanations.
There are many others - Check out google's
search results...My take on it is a bit less scientifically stringent...I simple sing: "When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie, that's amore..."
Comments:
I saw the sun this morning... HUGE! and beautiful