Can anyone tell me why the Moon looks bigger on the horizon than it does when it is high in the sky?

Answer 1

It's an optical illusion. When it's near the horizon there are points of reference within your field of vision so your brain can correctly assess the size of it whereas high in the sky, there's nothing for the brain to use to assess size.

Answer 2

It's an illusion. When you look towards the horizon, you see things that are on earth get smaller and smaller with distance. So your brain expects this to happen to everything you see - people, trees, houses, mountains, clouds, etc. So when we see the Moon (or the setting Sun) on the horizon, our brain expects it to be much smaller than it really is, that's why it appears larger than usual to us.

Take a photo of the Moon or the Sun near the horizon, and they will appear as small as they do when high in the sky.

Answer 3

This question has been pondered for hundreds if not thousands of years. This problem is commonly referred to as the moon illusion. Some have speculated that there is some effect that causes the atmosphere to act like a magnifying glass making the moon look bigger. It turns out that any distortion caused by the atmosphere would actually make the moon look a little smaller.

Most scientists agree that the reason the moon looks bigger is purely in our minds. Our mind interprets the things we see in interesting ways. For instance, if you look at any door frame you can see that it is rectangular. But if you were to sketch the outline of the door frame from the angle that you are looking at it, most likely you would sketch a trapezoid. Your mind adjusts the door so that you perceive it as a rectangle from whatever angle you look at it. That theory is called shape constancy.

Answer 4

Yes, it is an optical illusion, when the moon in near the horizon it looks bigger because your eyes looking through the dense atmosphere acts like a magnifying looking-glass. I like to look at the moon when it is so big.

Answer 5

Its an optical illusion, but I can't remember how you explain it I did know but I forgot. But if you took a picture with a camera it wouldn't look big anymore it would look small again. I thhink its to do with when its on the horizon you see it in comparison to something like a mountain, building, the edge of the earth so you brain assumes it to lok big but when its in the sky you have nothing to compare it with so it appears smaller.

Answer 6

It is the eye when it is high in the sky there is nothing to reference it to. when it is on the horizon it might be next to a mountain etc.

Answer 7

Light is bent by the earths gravity. So it basically stretches and the image you get is bigger.

Answer 8

It's an optical illusion.

For more info on the subject, see: http://www.howstuffworks.com/question491.htm.

For even more info, see: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/bigmoon_000105.html.

Answer 9

Try this link:

http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/