I See a Bad Moon a-Rising

[Al Dente]

Here's a weird one.

I can't believe that the science isn't totally settled on this. I always thought that the reason the moon appears larger when it's close to the horizon was because of a magnification effect of the atmosphere. Boy, was I way behind the times. Aristotle thought the same thing, but the moon occupies the same half of an angular degree in the sky regardless of it being on the horizon or straight over your head.

Dec 13, 2016 - "Why the Moon Looks Bigger Near the Horizon" by Nadia Drake on news.nationalgeographic.com

[DonRocks]

7 hours ago, Al Dente said:

I can't believe that the science isn't totally settled on this one. I always thought that the reason the moon appears larger when it's close to the horizon was because of a magnification effect of the atmosphere.

I can't believe it either - I always thought the illusion was being provided by the atmosphere; not by our own ineptitude. How can scientists not have figured this out?!

When I was younger, I thought it was a load of baloney that the Moon was (partly) responsible for high and low tides - shows how much I knew/know.

A lot of people think it's BS that the sap runs during a full moon, but a lot of peasant farmers swore by it - who knows?

Could there be a correlation between higher incidences of testicular torsion and planets with two moons? 

Better Call Saul. Or Q.

Explaining the Moon Illusion by Lloyd Kaufman and James H. Kaufman