“Why Does the Moon Appear Bigger Near the Horizon?” by Cecil Adams Essay

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Updated: Mar 5th, 2024

Introduction

For thousands of years, many answers have been provided for the phenomenon “Why does the Moon seem bigger when it’s just above the horizon”. This paper examines a few of these answers.

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What is the Mystery?

From personal observations, it is a fact the heavenly objects such as the sun and the moon appear much larger when they are at the horizon and this can be observed during sunset and sunrise. The phenomenon of the moon seeming bigger can best be observed during a full moon. As the moon moves higher in the sky, it appears smaller and looks the smallest when the moon is at the zenith position or directly overhead. The size of the heavenly bodies does not change; so the mystery is why does it look as if the size is changing.

Explanations

A number of explanations have been given and some of them are listed here.

Early Explanations

The ancient Egyptians and Greek astronomers such as Ptolemy provided the answer to this question many centuries ago. They regarded the sky as an inverted bowl where the heavenly bodies rotated around the earth. The moon was presumed to come from a distant place and move in a path around the sun. So when the moon rose at the horizon, it appeared larger and as it moved on its path and neared the earth, it seemed bigger and as it receded, it appeared smaller. Another theory was that the size of the moon changed with the angle at which the head was tilted when it was viewed. Another reason suggested was that there were differences in the brightness of the moon when it was near the horizon and when it was above and this caused the moon to have different sizes (Adams Cecil, 25 January 1985).

An Optical illusion

Another reason given was that the moon at the horizon is seen along with a number of earth objects such as trees and buildings that appear larger since they are near. When the moon is at the horizon, then it is seen along with these objects, hence it also appears bigger. As the moon moves higher, it becomes isolated from other objects hence it appears smaller. According to psychologists, this is purely an u=illusion and the eye plays tricks on the mind. The explanation further suggests that if the viewer were to bend over and watch the moon from between the legs, the moon would be turned upside down and the horizon would appear above the moon and this would change the illusion. (SMAS Related Faqs, 2002).

The atmosphere as a magnifying glass

It was suggested that the earth’s atmosphere is also curved and acts as a magnifying glass. The gasses in the atmospheric haze from smoke and pollution act as effective magnifying glasses and these polluting substances tend to stay closer to the earth because of gravity. When the moon is near the horizon, then the gasses in the atmosphere act as a huge magnifying glass and this tends to magnify the size of the moon and makes it appear much larger than it actually is. But when the moon moves overhead, the gases directly overhead are dispersed across a wider area and do not have the same magnifying effect. Hence the moon appears much smaller in size (Stern David, 10 May 2005)

Ponzo Effect

In 1913, Mario Ponzo gave an explanation using the model of a rail track. According to this theory, when an object is placed on a parallel railroad track, near a viewer, the brain gives a visual image of the size, with respect to the tracks. When the same object is moved further away, it appears smaller in size. (NASA Science, June 14, 2000). Figure 1. Ponzo Effect gives an illustration of this effect.

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Ponzo Effect (White Steve, May 1999)
Figure 1. Ponzo Effect (White Steve, May 1999)

As can be seen in the above figure, the block in both cases is exactly the same size. In the figure, the block with the label (Moon Overhead) appears smaller and this is the position when the moon is at its highest point. The explanation is that since there are no reference objects such as buildings but the moon is seen with a background of the vast space, it appears smaller. But in the second instance, the box with the label ‘Moon near horizon’ is when the moon is seen with reference to some earthly objects such as a mountain. This creates an illusionary effect and because our mind has accepted the fact that the moon is much bigger than the mountains, it appears much bigger (Fink Bob, 1999).

Conclusion

The four theories that were examined in the previous sections all offer diverging views. The early theories can be discarded as they were not based on scientific principles and do not seem to be logical. The best explanation can be obtained by using a combination of the other theories. The atmosphere does act as a magnifying glass when the moon is viewed at the horizon and this is probably due to refraction and this can be seen even in a swimming pool filled with water. This theory, when combined with the other phenomenon such as the Ponzo effect offers a better explanation. The human brain has created certain patterns and forces us t accept the illusion that the moon is bigger when viewed at the horizon. thinks of the sky as a flattened dome, the moon appears more distant at the horizon, but since its size is not changing, the brain suggests that it is bigger.

 Illusion caused by the moon at the horizon and when overhead (Krystek Lee, 1998)
Figure 2. Illusion caused by the moon at the horizon and when overhead (Krystek Lee, 1998)

References

  1. Adams Cecil, 1985, ‘Why does the moon appear bigger near the horizon?’
  2. Fink Bob, 1999, Illustrations & Observations About The “Moon Illusion.
  3. Krystek Lee, 1998, . Web.
  4. NASA Science, 2000, Solstice Moon.
  5. Stern David, 2005, ‘ (1) ‘, Web.
  6. SMAS Related Faqs, 2002, ’12. Why does the moon look so big when it’s rising?’
  7. White Steve, 1999, ‘Why does the Moon look so big when it rises?’
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IvyPanda. ""Why Does the Moon Appear Bigger Near the Horizon?" by Cecil Adams." March 5, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/why-does-the-moon-appear-bigger-near-the-horizon-by-cecil-adams/.

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