Moon's magical powers seem to rise on June 18th

William Atkins
Tuesday, 17 June 2008 18:30

Science - Space

Your eyes may deceive you but check out the full Moon rising in the eastern sky on Wednesday night, June 18, 2008. It’s huge, or is it the “Moon Illusion”?

Yes, you’ll see faint images of craters and seas, like usual, especially if you are using binoculars or a backyard telescope. But, this thing is strangely bigger than normal.

However, scientifically speaking, you are just seeing an illusion: the Moon Illusion.

This optical illusion occurs then the Moon appears larger near the Earth’s horizon than when it does higher up in the night sky. It occurs also with the Sun and other celestial objects.

It is an illusion that has been known since ancient times. Its true explanation still evades us, but many theories exist as to why it happens.

The giant Moon you see rising up from the horizon is a “solstice moon”—meaning that it coming only two days before the beginning of the summer season in the northern hemisphere.

The summer solstice occurs at 23:59 UTC on June 20, 2008.

When this happens the Moon is not very high in the night sky, so it gives us humans the illusion that it is larger than normal.

Astronomers know now that the illusion is not caused by the Earth’s atmosphere making the Moon appear larger then usual. However, they are not really sure what causes the appearance of the portly Moon.

Read on for some possible explanations.