Question

Do the moon and sun appear larger on the horizon, or is it just me?

Asked by: Jon Reimer

 Answer

This is an interesting question because there is no universal agreement on the answer. An interesting experiment that you can perform is when you see a large full moon near the horizon, turn around facing away from it. Then bend over and look at the moon between your legs. Most people see it as a normal size. For a full discussion of the various theories see the following URL:

http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/introduction.html

Answered by: Robert Gardner, M.S., Retired Physicist

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'The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown.'

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