Bigger moon.

[Spacehead]

Hi All,

Ive just spotted the full moon at its perigee (about two hours past).

The thing is - it looks pretty normal to me.  I know its past its highest point and not sure if that makes a difference, BUT, I know 100% that I have seen it rising looking FAR FAR FAR larger than this.

How come?  Im confused - because I thought it would appear at its largest tonight.  Now I did not see it rise - total cloud cover, but i'm wondering, is it somehow nearer earth as it rises or something?  Or at least "nearer me" on the earth at the point it rises?

Totally confused.

Cheers

[D4N]

Nope it is closest to you when it is at meridian passage (it's highest point).

There is an optical illusion that makes the moon appear larger when it is seen next to foreground objects.

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[alan potts]

The Moon looks bigger when viewed with some near to you object is only an optical illusion. Take a toilet roll or kitchen roll middle and look at it through the empty tube you will see it return to the same size as normal. You can do it using your hand held so there is a hole through the fist as well.

Alan

[Joves]

Had to laugh to myself this morning when I watched a report on the morning news stating "If you happened to see the moon last night and thought it looked bigger than usual, that's because it was passing us HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF KILOMETRES closer than usual..."

Not sure how far from us they actually think the moon is?!

[Pig]

The closer the Moon is to the horizon the bigger it appears to be  but its just an illusion

[Spacehead]

I will have to go for the illusion then - and say its a pretty spectacular one.  I mean the moon can look MASSIVE as it rises sometimes.

Forget about this 10% business - thats nothing.  Im talking triple the size.

Given that its an illusion though, this would mean that through the scope, nothing would look any different than "typical" for its actual distance I suppose.  Shame, I thought I was on a winner here!!! 

[Spacehead]

A few others which put this "super moon" thing to shame (in terms of its size last night) - honestly - I dont know if anyone else saw the moon last night, but at 2:45 am (this morning really) it was nothing special at all.  I doubt a couple of hours has it shift that far away from its nearest point.

This is similar to how it was last night - and pretty much always is (below) really (give or take the 10%)