why's the full round moon so big, bright and gold some days and not others?

Answer 1

That is a question that many astronomers and other scientits have asked for years. We know by measurment of the moon on the horizion v.s Zenith (above your head) that there is very little differnace between the size of the moon. Really we are a little closer to the moon when it is overhead then we are most night when it is rising, so it's really larger overhead by an inpercivable amount. Yet it looks larger when it is rising. Many folks claim that the atmosphere has a "lens type" effect and makes the moon or sun look larger on the horizon. This "lens effect" has been proven not to exist..so the atmosphere bending the light making the moon look larger is just not so, and I know this to be a fact. The moon also does travel around the Earth in an elipse so at some points it is closer and others it if farther away, I have photographed the moon at both points. By using graphic programs to superimpose the photographs over each other there is a differnace in size, but much like the moon being larger overhead this is not a large enough differnace to make an perciable diffence. So what is it?

One of the theories I have read able and also one that I find very possable is each person perception of the moon and not it's actual size. When the moon is a thin creasent is set shortly after sunset or rises just before sunrise. At this point it's not very dark yet and with the crescent being thin we percive the moon as small. Around quarter moon the moon is up at sun set and at about lunar "noon" or it's highest point in the sky. The area of the moon again is along about half it's maximium and it sets about 6 hours after sunset when most of us are asleep, so we don't see it set. When the moon is this high in the sky we have nothing to compare it to, so it seems small compared to the rest of the vast sky. The around full moon something a little differnt happens. The moon is full and at it's largest, it's rising over the horizion right at sunset. Just starting to peak above the horizon when we are all still awake to see it. If we are in a position to see the moon come over the horizion we are going to be seeing the moon coming over objects fimilar to us such as trees, building, cars, houses large objects yet they will be on the horizon so they are far away. Our brains know that these objects are large yet in angular size is small because of their distance yet our brains still see them as large. The the moon comes up right around these large objects and it's even larger! So our brains percive the moon as being huge, much larger then it percives it when the moon is not around anything or behind a tree in our yard when a few leaves over it up. This theory can be tested, but putting our brains off balance and look at things in a differnt perspecive we can make the large moon on the horizon effect "go away" Turn your back to the moon and then look at it by putting your head between your legs, looking at it upside down give a new perspective and the moon look just as large as it does when it is overhead even though it is close to fimilar objects.

The whole thing just comes down to optical illusion.

Answer 2

Just about every 28 days the moon makes a full orbit around us. During this time, relatively-speaking, the sun hasn't moved. So you can approximate this with a light and a ball and hold it out and turn in a full circle (works best in an otherwise dark room). When the moon (ball) is on the opposite side of you from the sun (light), the whole side that faces you is brightened--we call that a full moon. (Now if you are standing directly between so that your shadow covers the moon, that is called a lunar eclipse, so hold it up a little) The opposite is true with the moon between you and the sun, there is nothing of the moon to reflect light your way--we call that a new moon. (Again, if the moon is directly between you and the sun so that you cannot see the light, that is called a solar eclipse) In between the shadows grow or diminish, which we call waxing or waning phases. Try it and compare to the phases of the moon you see over the next four weeks.

Answer 3

The moon looks bigger when it is near the horizon, this is called the 'moon illusion'. The size change is not an atmospheric effect at all, any such effect would actually cause the moon to look smaller.

One theory about the moon illusion says that when the moon is near the horizon we perceive it to be farther away from us than when it is high in the sky. But since the moon is actually the same size, our minds make it look bigger when it is near the horizon to compensate for the increased distance.

Answer 4

When the moon is nearer to the horizon, refraction by the atmosphere makes it look bigger. Dust in the atmosphere also adds the golden hue.