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[Phys-L] Re: It's the shape of the sky.



Forum for Physics Educators <PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu> writes:
This week's full moon hangs lower in the sky than any full moon since June
1987, so the moon illusion is going to be extra strong.
Sorry I missed this event.

To add to the illusion analysis, and I have no solution, when you see this
"enlarged rising moon" make a small "telescope" with your hands and view
the moon through this small tube. It will "shrink" to normal size. I
wonder if this would be true for pilots as well.

I was told by my father that he had determined in college ( an astronomy
major in 1928) that the moon actually subtends a smaller arc at rising
than when over-head. I never repeated the analysis but it has made sense
to me as it is further away and atmospheric refraction should flatten it a
bit.

Ken Fox
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