June 21, 2008


Moon Illusion

A full moon can loom large when viewed near the horizon. See, for instance, this solstice moonrise over the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. (A NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day via Coudal.)

posted by Sheila Ryan in astronomy, photography 

comments

3 Responses to “Moon Illusion”

  1. Cooper Renner on June 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am

    You inveterate, peripatetic and excellent websurfer. Thanks for posting this.

  2. Sheila Ryan on June 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 am

    Inveterate but not invertebrate. You are most welcome.

  3. Jonathan McNicol on June 22nd, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Ya know, I just learned this yesterday (the day of this post), and I was so struck by it: The sun is about 400 times the size of the moon. And by the biggest mindfuck of a coincidence I’ve thought about in a long time, the sun is also about 400 times farther away than the moon.

    So they appear about the same size in the sky.

    So solar eclipses are possible.

    I mean, I must’ve been aware of this before yesterday. At least a little bit. I have functioning eyes and such. But I was still struck by hearing it laid out like that.

    I told Alisia about it in an instant message (she’s on the left coast for a few days), and this was her response, and I quote: “That is so cool. That is why there has to be a God!!!”

    Is it just me, or does that totally ruin it? For me, it’s so much cooler if it’s just a coincidence. And it’s a lot cooler, too, if God doesn’t care only about Earth. But maybe that’s just me.

    I learned that little fun fact, by the way, from Dava Sobel’s The Planets.

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