Last Wednesday, for those of you who were fortunate enough to see the moonrise in the evening, you saw an exceptionally big moon. This is due to two factors. The first is that the moon is very close to the horizon (which you would expect with a moonrise) and the second is that it's a full moon (though technically you can never have a full moon, because then the moon would be in the shadow of the earth and therefore it would be in eclipse).
The moon doesn't change in size. If you think about it, you'll know this to be true. So why does the moon appear to be larger when it's near the horizon than when it is in the sky? Well, there are a couple of theories proposed. One of the previously widest accepted theories was that it is an example of the Müller-Lyer illusion, being closely related to the angular size illusion. However, in 1986, an exciting new theory, known as oculomotor micropsia, came onto the scene. Currently this is the theory that seems to make the most sense.
You can read more about it here.
1 comments:
Of course the moon changes size!!! When the man is in the moon, the size of the moon + man is greater than the size of moon alone - duh!!!
Just stumbled past to say hi - haven't seen you in a million years :)
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