2006-09-30 16:17:22 · 6 answers · asked by Joe 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Believe it or not, it actually doesn't look bigger.
You can check for yourself - when the sun is high, get a coin and see how far from your eye you need to hold it to cover the sun completely. Then, when the sun is closer to the horizon repeat the experiment. You'll see the result is exactly the same. There is no real difference in size - only percieved one. Why does your brain think the sun is bigger when it is lower? Because there are other objects (trees, hills, houses) that are much smaller around it, and the proportion is interpreted in your brain by making you believe the sun just got bigger than when it was high enough, and your brain had no objects around to compare it with.
2006-09-30 16:28:07 · answer #1 · answered by n0body 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's an optical illusion. The human brain uses several cues for depth perception. Parallax is the most accurate one but it only works on nearby objects and it's effectiveness falls off rapidly at distance. Another is the size of the image on our retina, but this only works if the object is something we are familiar with close up, or objects next to things we are familiar with. Neither of these work on the sun because we are not familiar with it close up and it is many millions of times further away then the limit of the Parallax effect. So we use a much less effective depth cue, vertical distance from the horizon. This is very effective for land bound objects, however for objects in the air this can be very misleading, and the sun, and moon are extreme cases of this. Since your brain thinks the sun is now much further away but takes up the same space on your retina, it tells you that it is bigger then it really is.
2006-09-30 16:30:23 · answer #2 · answered by santacruzrc 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As you seem on the solar and moon on the horizon you're finding by using extra water vapor than once you seem further up. Water works like a magnifying glass, so as you seem alongside the horizon the solar and moon seem greater besides as not as remarkable through fact the water vapor is likewise filtering it, it somewhat is the reason you are able to seem rapidly into the solar at sundown and dawn
2016-12-15 17:36:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
because of the curvature of the earth, our atmosphere is curved and at the low angle the sun is the atmosphere acts as a magnifying lens
2006-09-30 16:20:01 · answer #4 · answered by oldguy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It does
2006-09-30 16:26:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because it's closer then
2006-09-30 16:24:31 · answer #6 · answered by Snuz 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋