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EmailWho hasn't turned down a road to confront a low, horizon-hugging Moon that seems enormous? This is the famous "Moon illusion."
Many people assume that this common effect is caused by our atmosphere magnifying the image, but the explanation is far more simple. When the Moon is high overhead, it is dwarfed by the vast hemisphere of the heavens.
By contrast, when the Moon is low, it is viewed in proximity to earthly objects, such as chimneys or trees, whose size and shape provide scale.
Want to make the Moon illusion vanish?
Here's how to reduce the Moon from enormous to ordinary!
- Use a paper tube like the kind that holds paper towels.
- Close one eye and look through the tube at the enlarged Moon. It will appear normal.
- Now close the eye in the tube and open your other eye. The Moon appears huge again.
- Observe the Moon with the tube when it's high and again when it's low in the sky. The Moon will appear to be the same size both times.
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Comments
By Phil Murray
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When the "enlarged" moon is near the horizon, another way to negate this optical illusion: face away from the moon, then bend over and look at the moon between your legs. Lo and behold, the moon looks its usual size.
By Annie Brinker
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I have a question about a smiling moon? In the northeast area of US I have been seeing alot of the smiling moon, what is that about?
By Almanac Staff
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The crescent moon looks like a smile in the winter and spring and like a backwards "C" in the summer and fall. This is related to the Moon's path, where the Sun is, and how and where it shines on the Moon.
By ninpolearner
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I'm sorry. But I think this article is nonsense! Yes, our lens-shaped atmosphere has nothing at all to do with how the moon looks through its convex boundaries.
By Catherine Boeckmann
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The article isn't Moon lore; it's written by leading astronomer, Bob Berman, director of Overlook Observatory in Woodstock (NY), director of Storm King Observatory in Cornwall (NY), founder of the Catskill Astronomical Society--and long-time astronomy editor of The Old Farmer's Almanac!
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