Why does the earth appear to be the same size as moon from the moon's perspective?

Question

The earth and moon are different in size dramatically. Regardless whether you are on the moon or earth the distance apart is the same. An astronaut had his picture taken with the earth in the background. The astronaut standing is the reference we need to know what exactly earth would look like from the eyes of man. If you take a picture of a man on earth wearing the suit and have a moon in the background then blow the picture up so that both the people on the picture are proportionate in size then overlap the two, you would probably have the moon and earth almost proportionate in size as well.

Answer 1

Using information about the field of view of the cameras used in Apollo, and knowing how large the Earth should appear in terms of angle subtended, I can assure you from direct measurement that the Earth in the Apollo pictures is EXACTLY the size it should be.

THAT is how you decide if the object is the right size, not by cropping and resizing to match a close foreground object. The size of the foreground object will vary heavily with distance from the camera, whereas the size of the Moon or Earth will not because it is so far away that a few feet will make no difference.

Answer 2

I think you mean when we look at the earth from the moon? Why do you think they look the same size? I don't think they do. For those of us who have never been to the moon, the only view we have is from cameras and unless you see a picture of the moon in the same perspective as a picture of earth (from the moon) you can't really tell how big they would look to the eye. In other words, most pictures of either fill the whole page so you get no perspective as to comparative apparent size.

Answer 3

Here on Earth the moon appears to subtend an angle of about one half degree. On the moon, the Earth would appear to subtend an angle of about two degrees, because the Earth's diameter is about four times that of the moon. By looking at a picture which shows the moon or the Earth, you cannot tell how large an angle it subtends, without something as a reference. For example, surely you have seen many pictures of the moon. The apparent size of the moon depends upon the amount of enlargement of the photograph. If you take a picture of a person with the moon in the background, the closer you are to the person, the larger he will seem compared to the moon, since the person will appear to get larger as you get closer to him, but the apparent size of the moon will not change.

Answer 4

Look silly the earth would appear larger as it is thats so obvious I hope you think next time as this question is a real clanger