MOON so low in the sky .. felt like I could touch it ...

Havent seen any thing like that for a long time. ( Of course I am a dunce and
a newbie on SKY topics ) Wondering why it is soo low in the sky these
nites.........Tuesday to be specific ...

"Morehits4u" wrote in message
...
Havent seen any thing like that for a long time. ( Of course I am a dunce
and
a newbie on SKY topics ) Wondering why it is soo low in the sky these
nites.........Tuesday to be specific ...

My wife and I had the same impression. The reason for us was obvious though.
Our neighborhood has plenty of trees. Nothing below 20-30 degrees is
visible, maybe a bit more. Anyway, we were out on a highway in Western
MD...high up...it was amazing. Looked like one of those old movies with the
huge moon in the background, or maybe the moon from Bruce Almighty.

BV.

ojunk (Morehits4u) wrote in
:

Havent seen any thing like that for a long time. ( Of course I am a
dunce and a newbie on SKY topics ) Wondering why it is soo low in
the sky these nites.........Tuesday to be specific ...


It's low in the sky just after it rises and just before it sets duh!.

L.

is the moon closer to earth (hence larger in appearance) when it is on the
horizon?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

M

"Llanzlan Klazmon The 15th" wrote in message
7.6...
ojunk (Morehits4u) wrote in
:

Havent seen any thing like that for a long time. ( Of course I am a
dunce and a newbie on SKY topics ) Wondering why it is soo low in
the sky these nites.........Tuesday to be specific ...


It's low in the sky just after it rises and just before it sets duh!.

L.

"desert_wanderer" wrote in
news:0UCWb.39247$QJ3.10257@fed1read04:

is the moon closer to earth (hence larger in appearance) when it is on
the horizon?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

M



Google 'moon illusion' for an explanation.

Llanzlan.




"Llanzlan Klazmon The 15th" wrote in
message 7.6...
ojunk (Morehits4u) wrote in
:

Havent seen any thing like that for a long time. ( Of course I am a
dunce and a newbie on SKY topics ) Wondering why it is soo low in
the sky these nites.........Tuesday to be specific ...


It's low in the sky just after it rises and just before it sets duh!.

L.

"desert_wanderer" wrote in message
news:0UCWb.39247$QJ3.10257@fed1read04...
is the moon closer to earth (hence larger in appearance) when it is on the
horizon?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.
snip

Questions are never stupid, but so far we've seen some answers can be. Flame
aside, what you are experiencing is an illusion. The moon is no closer, nor
larger when near the horizon.

Here is a great site, that explains the in's and out's,
http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/.

BV.
www.iheartmypond.com

No, it's just because your seeing the moon threw more of the Earths blanket of
air.



--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
World of Dahlias Slideshowv1.0 $10.00
for Windows machines. Email:



"desert_wanderer" wrote in message
news:0UCWb.39247$QJ3.10257@fed1read04...
is the moon closer to earth (hence larger in appearance) when it is on the
horizon?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

M




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wrote in message
news:0UCWb.39247$QJ3.10257@fed1read04...
is the moon closer to earth (hence larger in appearance) when it is on the
horizon?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

M



No, its not noticably closer or further away.....

HOWEVER....that the moon or sun (or even small constellations) somehow SEEM to
APPEAR larger when they are on the horizon is a well know OPTICAL illusion...

anybody here up on the reason for said illusion?

take care

Blll

"Starlord" wrote in message
...
No, it's just because your seeing the moon threw more of the Earths
blanket of
air.


No, it's mostly an optical illusion produced by our
brain's interpretation of the scene; distant things
seen next to the horizon seem larger than the same
things viewed overhead without nearby reference
objects.

Starlord wrote:

No, it's just because your seeing the moon threw more of the Earths blanket of
air.

It's an "optical illusion", not a real optical effect such as can be
captured on film or otherwise measured. IIANM in fact atmospheric
refraction makes the moon's apparent disc a tiny bit *smaller* when
it's near the horizon; it's only in our heads that it gets enlarged.

--
Odysseus