Dear Jim,
That is a great question. Many of us have seen the Moon near the horizon and felt sure that it looked larger than later in the evening, as it rises. Try this exercise for fun:
Get a stiff piece of paper (like a 3-in x 5-in card) and a pencil or pen. When the Moon rises near the horizon, hold the card at arm's length, lock your elbow, and hold your arm straight. Move your arm and hand so that the card goes across the Moon's widest part, its diameter. With your other hand and the pencil, mark the edges of the Moon, where they cross the card. Mark carefully, as the shape will be only a few millimeters wide. Now, wait a few hours.
You can use the same card that you marked a few hours ago, but it is quite interesting to get a second card and repeat the measurement independently. Mark the Moon's diameter along the edge of a card. Hold the two cards edge to edge: The Moon will be the same size!
Studies have been carried out with disks of different diameters mounted so that they can slide on tracks, to determine why the Moon looks smaller when there is nothing behind it but blue sky or stars. No one is sure, but apparently the presence of familiar objects along the horizon throws us off.
hi? iam a students of holy cross catholic school in toronto .my tearcher give us a home work about moon would you mine to help me ..plz thank you and god bleess
Posted by: daryll mae | February 08, 2007 at 07:27 PM
Dear to who this is going to,
Why is there a change in the time of moonrise from day to day?
Posted by: Abagail Drobner | February 05, 2008 at 05:19 PM