everyone is saying that today moon looks bigger?

Question

i just heard now going to see it if its true?

what could be the reason it looks bigger?

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

It is perfectly true. It does look bigger tonight. As tonight it is at perigee and nearer to us. (See the table below).

The moon's orbit is elliptical and not a circle. Therefore there is a time every month when the moon is at its nearest to the earth (perigee) and a time, a fortnight later, when the moon is at its furthest away (apogee). 13 of each a year. The distance at every apogee will vary from lunar month to lunar month, as will the distance at every perigee.

Look at the photos in this link to compare the difference

http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html

The mean distance to the moon, 384,401 km, is the semimajor axis of its elliptical orbit. The closest perigee in the years 1750 through 2125 was 356,375 km on 4th January 1912; the most distant apogee in the same period will be 406,720 km on 3rd February 2125

Here are the distances for the rest of the year.

Oct 17 perigee: 363,826 km

Nov 2 apogee: 405,722 km

Nov 14 perigee: 358,972 km

Nov 29 apogee: 406,479 km

Dec 12 perigee: 356,567 km

Dec 26 apogee: 406,600 km

So the answer to the implied question "why does the Moon look huge tonight, and sometimes it looks smaller?" is that sometimes (perigees) it is nearer to us and that is what makes it look bigger and at other times (apogees) it is further away from us and that is what makes it look smaller.

Compare how large a football looks from the stands at a big football stadium with how large the same football looks from the touchline at a school playing field, where the spectator is closer to the game.

Source(s): http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Answer 2

It's an optical / perceptive illusion that the Moon appears larger when it's low in the sky. Our brains have context to compare the Moon's size to when we can also see trees and buildings at the same time, which are known by our brains as far as size is concerned.

Against the empty backdrop of sky when viewed higher up, our brains don't receive the visual cues of the well-known ground objects, and perceive it as smaller in our view than it really is.

This effect is more pronounced when the Moon is full. More people see the Moon on the horizon when it's full simply because it's there right after sunset when more people are awake and active.

The Moon is already past full at this point, so it would probably have seemed even larger about 2 nights ago.

Answer 3

im white yet your actuality is retarded. initially ethnicity has fairly no longer something to do with any of it...you're so complete of your self its slightly comical. ok i assume that any ignorant "bonehead" might want to believe you. yet coming from a historic perspective none of those acheivements have something to do with being white. you purely assume that white people did all of it? all by technique of themselves? hahah and so a options as conquering the international for hundreds of years...we are able to heavily debate that even with the undeniable fact that the most suitable objective will be that you're uneducated in previous civilizations and heritage as a rule. do your homework and learn a element or 2. end being so egoccentric and yet another element why are you taking credit for belongings you had no area of. did you triumph over something/ rule the international? did you herald modern-day tech? did you're making and layout all that style? did you bypass to the moon? NO so that you probably did not kick butt at something. Congratulations you may spell and sweetness up some ish on yahoo solutions woohoo sure you've MADE SUCH AN result ON HUMANITY. HAhaHaHaHa

Answer 4

The atmosphere acts as a magnifying glass when you look through it at the moon when it is low on the horizon but it appears to get smaller as it rises because the atmosphere gets thinner as you look up

Answer 5

a well-known optical illusion when teh full moon is rising or setting.

Answer 6

i always see someones face when i look towards moon so moon always looks beautiful to me but not more than her.dont know about its size!!!!!!!!!

ooops

Source(s): sorry dont know the scientific cause,only know the romantic side of it.

Answer 7

the moon has more cheese now

Answer 8

It's falling toward the earth.

Answer 9

Why don't you go and look for yourself?