why is it when i walk, the moon seems to be following me?

Question

dumb as it may be, i'm thirsty for answers. anyone?

Answer 1

Well, well, well. People don’t know.

When you are in a car speeding along the highway, the pavement is rushing by, but distant houses are not, and distant mountains will hardly move over half an hour. What you are seeing with the moon is just an extension of that. It is called parallax.

Objects are displaced exactly by the amount you move. If you walk 5 meters, you are displacing the moon’s position by 5 meters. But 5 meters at the distance of the moon is negligible. You would have to walk 2000 miles to displace the moon by about its own width.

Parallax is how they measure astro distances, because, as described above, things get apparently displaced less and less the further away they are. And that enables you to measure their distance.

For hundreds of years after the invention of the telescope, astronomers tried to measure the parallax of stars. They are so far away that even the travel of Earth from one side of its orbit to the other (180 million miles) produces an incredibly tiny movement in even the nearest stars. It wasn’t until the 19th century that astronomers were able to measure the parallax of the stars.

So, an extension of your following moon – if you were in a space ship travelling in a straight line – the stars would all seem to follow you, because you would have to travel billions of miles in that straight line before you would notice a change in the stars.

Answer 2

Because it's very, very big and very, very far away.

Think of walking by a big building and how long it would take to walk far enough to not see it. Now think about walking with mountains in the distance. They may be only 20 miles away, but their position hardly changes even if you walk and walk.

So it's the same but more so for looking at the moon. The distance you're walking is really, really small compared to the distance to the moon.

This can be comforting, though. If you're really missing someone on a clear evening, just keep in mind that they may be looking up at nearly the same view of the moon as you!

Answer 3

The moon Distance made you look like that
But consider
a road if you watch near road while traveling
It seems to be moving fast that the tree farther
It is not that the tree is leaving behind slowly than the road they all are leaving behind with same pace

Answer 4

Because it is so far away. Distant mountains and even high clouds do the same thing. So does the Sun. So do the stars. All of the stars. It looks like the whole sky is following you.

Answer 5

That's what you think it was. But when you stop walking the moon also stopped. The fact is, the moon does not follow you, it is steady up there above. It is you who is moving, but as you stare at it , it seems that it is following you wherever you go.

Answer 6

Well, when you walk, you are putting yourself in a different postition which gives you different perspectives. The moon is not moving with you, it just looks like its in a different place b/c you are. I've always found that fascinating!

Answer 7

The earth is constantly moving

Answer 8

it is following you,your just sooo cute

Answer 9

It's your gravitational pull!

Answer 10

.....i think it likes you awwwwwww :)