Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/31

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Moon Illusion
From: lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:05:44 -0500

Nathan is right. According to Wikipedia, the *Moon illusion* is an optical
illusion <javascript:searchWiki(> in which the Moon
<javascript:searchWiki(>appears larger near the
horizon <javascript:searchWiki(> than it does while higher up in the
sky<javascript:searchWiki(>.
This optical illusion also occurs with the sun
<javascript:searchWiki(> and star
constellations <javascript:searchWiki(>. It has been studied since ancient
times, and numerous explanations have been offered. The phenomenon appear to
be primarily psychological since accurate measurement by instruments or by
photography show that the visual angle subtended (about 30 minutes) by the
Moon at the horizon is the same as at the zenith.
Larry Z