If the Sun is so much larger than the earth, why is it the same size in the sky as the moon?

Question

See picture:

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/0/04/270px-Sun,_Earth_size_comparison_labeled.jpg

Even though the sun is farther away, it should completely fill our view, shouldn't it?

Answer 1

even though the sun is much much MUCH larger the moon, it looks to be abt the same size as the moon in the sky. ur right.

but then again....distance between earth-moon and earth-sun needs to be taken into account. the moon is much closer so it looks as big as the sun. if the moon were at the same distance away from the earth as the sun is, it would definitely look smaller.
got it?

Answer 2

the moon is 3475 km in diameter, and has a mean distance from earth of 384 400 km - a ratio of about 110.6
the sun is 1 391 000 km in diameter, and averages 149 588 000 km from the earth - a ratio of about 107.5
entirely by coincidence, these apparent sizes are almost the same, and are constantly changing as everything orbits about

throughout the months, the moon moves slightly closer to, then farther away from the earth, and the earth moves similarly in and out in relation to the sun during the year. all this results in the moon sometimes appearing slightly larger than the sun, sometimes smaller, and occasionally exactly the same size

this is why solar eclipses are sometimes total (the moon entirely covers the sun), sometimes annular (the moon blocks all but a thin ring) and very occasionally hybrid (some regions get just a few seconds of totality, others a few seconds of a very thin ring, and the spot exactly in the center of the alignment receives a blink of dark)

what this /doesn't/ explain is why the moon appears larger near the horizon than it does high in the sky. that's purely optical illusion, and can be verified simply by holding a ruler at arm's length and measuring every hour or two

Answer 3

Although the sun is vastly larger than the moon, it is millions of miles farther away. It's like looking at a person standing closer to you than a building that's far off: the person might look to be about the same size or even larger depending on distance, but in reality the building dwarfs the person. They only look similar in size because the larger object is farther away than the smaller object.

Answer 4

The sun and moon look the same size in the sky because the sun is much bigger than the moon. It is farther away from Earth, but because of its size, its apparent size is the same as the moon.

Answer 5

It's 93,000,000 miles away. The Moon is only about 240,000 miles away. That makes the Sun nearly 400 times farther away. And sure enough the Sun is about 400 times the diameter of the Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

Answer 6

It looks the same size because It is much much much farther away than the moon is, and needless to say, things look smaller the farther away they are.

In the picture you provided, the sun and earth are the same distance away from the viewpoint, whereas to us, our viewpoint is from the earth.

Answer 7

wow....
i dont think you understand how far away it really is

oh and it isnt lightyears away. its only 8 light minutes away.
it takes 8 minutes for light to get here from the sun and it travels at 2.998x10^8 m/s. thats pretty damn far away

Answer 8

Surely you jest. Does a forty foot tall tree fill your same feild of vision when you are standing ten feet from it as when you are standing three hundred feet from it?

Answer 9

It's an illusion. If you watch balloons float away, they will appear to get smaller.

Answer 10

Logically,. your statement/question should hold. It APPEARS smaller due to optical illusion.