Why do both the sun and moon look bigger when on the horizon than when directly overhead?

Question

10 pts to first person with correct answer

Answer 1

Optical illusion. When on the horizon, you have buildings or trees for reference.

Answer 2

They are not bigger on the horizon.

That is easily checked if you have a telescope and set the magnitude so that the moon (don't do this with the sun) just fits in the field of view (about half a degree). Then compare the moon on the horizon and the moon high in the sky. It will fill the field of view exactly in both cases.

It is an optical illusion.

Answer 3

Humans perceive the sky as a flattened dome, with the zenith nearby and the horizon far away. It makes sense: Birds flying overhead are closer than birds on the horizon. When the moon is near the horizon, your brain, trained by watching birds, miscalculates the moon's true distance and size.

Answer 4

if you look straight up you are looking through less air than if you look at an angle. just like a magnifying glass. this makes the sun and moon look bigger near the horizon. also they look bigger because in the middle of the sky there is nothing close to compare it with, and like a ship in the ocean or a car on a flat road it is easier for us to psychologically minimize it. when we look at them near the horizon and there is a lot of pollution in the air this will turn the moon red or create a beautiful sun set.

Answer 5

while the moon is on the horizon you're seeing it alongside with regardless of is on the horizon, which contain mountains or timber. Seeing it in assessment to those gadgets makes the moon look super. yet while the moon is on my own in the super open sky there are not the different gadgets to look small against the moon. Like the numerous different solutions pronounced, it is definitely an optical phantasm.

Answer 6

Because the greater amount of atmosphere that light must travel through at the horizon magnifies the image of the sun or moon.

Answer 7

It is an optical illusion. When up in the sky there is nothiong to campare them to when on the horizopn, the horizon makes them look bigge. I believe the moon is the size of a quarter in your extended arm.

Answer 8

The atmosphere is denser when viewed at horizon, making a huge, natural lens

Answer 9

because they are closer to the ground, you have a reference with many fine details (the moon appears bigger than a distant tree, so its bigger than a tree)
when they are higher then the only reference is the whole sky and by comparison they are small

Answer 10

BECAUSE WHEN SUN AND MOON ARE AT THE HORIZON THIS IS WHEN IT IS CLOSES TO THE EARTH. THEREFOR THE IMAGE IS LARGER.