14 DAY TRIAL // The Moon is so familiar to us that it doesn't really register as an extraterrestrial object. Yet, despite its familiarity and despite the fact that it's the only place outside of Earth that we've set foot on, the Moon can still seem and be quite mysterious.
One thing you may have noticed or even wondered about is why the moon grows and shrinks as it passes the night sky. You may assume that it's because the Moon gets closer to the Earth or further away in its orbit.
And the Moon does vary in its distance from the Earth, due to its rotation and inclination, but it does so very slowly, over the course of its monthly cycle.
The explanation for the apparent shift in Moon size over just a few hours is actually an optical illusion. The brain registers the moon as bigger when it rises and smaller when it's up in the sky.
There are several explanations for this, for one, when it rises there are more objects, which size you're familiar with, so it seems big in comparison.
Plus, our brain is trained to know that objects seem smaller on the horizon and "adjusts" the size of the moon to compensate.