Found an excellent reference here; interestingly, the atmosphere is not related here - in fact it tends to squash the image of the moon vertically, rather than making it appear any bigger.
It's a bit of a read, but if you're actually interested in the mechanics of it, it's fascinating.
2006-07-18 11:45:49
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answer #1
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answered by lazwatson 3
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Try this, if you live near mountains.
View a distant mountain from the end of a street, against the houses at the end of the street. The mountain looks huge and relatively close. Go right down the street, and as the houses at the end get bigger, the mountain seems to shrink. At the end of the street, you are actually nearer the mountain, but now it looks relatively insignificant.
It is the same effect as the moon (and sun) looking bigger on the horizon.
Some time ago I asked people to guess the apparant size of the sun and moon (they both appear the same size, which is why a solar eclipse is so awesome).
The answer is a surprising 0.07 inch as viewed at standard measure 10 inches (25cm). That's less than a tenth of an inch, about 3mm.
Try it. Hold thumb and forefinger out about 10 inches from your eye and measure the moon. How tiny it really looks. And it is the same whichever part of the sky it is in.
If you see the movie Apollo 13, Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) puts his thumb over the moon from his yard before he goes on the mission.
2006-07-18 14:51:09
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answer #2
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answered by nick s 6
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It is an optical illusion.
It only seems bigger because your mind makes it that way when viewing it next to the horizon.
If you want to trick your mind into seing it for it's true size, hold your fingers apart and view the moon through your oppen fingers, blocking out the horizon. the moon looks small again.
For a scientific approach, take a picture of the moon on the horizon. Take another picture of the moon high in the sky. Use a micrometer and measurethe moon in the picture. They are the same size.
2006-07-18 11:30:17
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Relative appearance. It is small compared to the horizon at 360o around you, but as it rises the sky takes away the comparison and at straight up, the moon would appear 50% the size it appeared at the horizon. Measured by actual linear means, the Moon never changes size in the sky. It's one of Mother Nature's cool illusions, like oil on water or heat in the desert...
2006-07-18 11:32:34
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answer #4
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answered by Boliver Bumgut 4
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Our idea of the "dome" of the sky is flatter than that is. We visually assume that the sky overhead isn't very far away, possibly some miles, because we do not have any overhead distance cues. notwithstanding the horizon has seen clues that coach some scale. we may be able to analyze close by bushes to extra distant hills and mountains. The moon in the back of the mountains seems vast by using evaluation because all of us comprehend what it takes to make some thing in the back of them seem that good sized. yet overhead, the moon is "small" because there is no longer some thing mediating the gap between us and it. Clouds do not count number because there is no thanks to gauge their relative length. in case you've been to thoroughly block out the horizon and any foreground gadgets, the moon may seem a similar length in both direction.
2016-10-14 22:38:50
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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There are a few reasons but the most apparent is optical illusion. When the moon is close to the horizon you have a frame of referance (trees, houses) to compare to. When the moon is high in the sky there is none.
2006-07-18 11:30:23
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answer #6
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answered by Cayce J 1
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I like how "sure" ppl. are that the atmosphere is a magnifying glass!
For some reason, a horizon in our field of vision has the effect of making things next to it look larger. To break this illusion, put something else in your field of vision other than the horizon; hold your thumb up next to the moon - it will look tiny again!
2006-07-18 11:48:25
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answer #7
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answered by Vosh 1
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Several reasons!
Optical illusion; when it is low, our eyes see and our brain compares with the sizes on Earth and thus the Moon seems larger!
Refraction of the light: when it is lower, the light passes through thicker levels of air, which at the lower levels it is thicker and warmer!
2006-07-18 11:27:18
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answer #8
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answered by soubassakis 6
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the real reason is that when its lower in the atmosphere near the horizon, your looking through more atmosphere which is magnifying the moon making it look bigger. When the moon is higher in the sky there is less atmosphere to look through, so less magnification.
2006-07-18 11:33:24
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answer #9
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answered by Lauren I 1
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the moon moves in an oval pattern around the sun
2006-07-18 11:28:39
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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