Re: ATM optical view question

["Andrew Schott" <aschott@digital.net>]

Seems like there was an article a while back in either S&T or Astronummy
about this phenomenon.  To the author's credit he went into great detail
over how this distortion is created in our perception and how we duplicate
it through various means in our media.  It's seen over and over again,
either in idealized paintings or over romanticized picture postcards of
vacation spots, so much so that we've grown to accept the illusion as
reality.

The moon's disc never changes in diameter.  Or better put, it never changes
enough over the course of one night to be perceptable to the nekkid eye.
The biggest most baleful Harvest Moon and the blazing intense "High Noom
(?)" can still be covered up with the same asprin held at arm's length.

An experiment proposed by the author of the article consists of changing
your frame of reference and retesting your perception.  He suggests the next
time the moon "hits your eye like a big pizza pie" you find a deck or a
picnic table nearby, something that provides an elevated platform, and lie
on your back with your head hanging over the edge of the table providing you
with an inverted view.  The familiar landscape gives way to an alien
perspective and allows your brain to process the scene differently.  It sure
ruins a romantic moonset/rise but confirms that the lunar light reflector
still occupies the same amount of sky.


----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry <jldove@home.com>
To: <atm@shore.net>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 1:30 AM
Subject: ATM optical view question


>
>
> Hi all,
>
> There was a thread here a short time ago about how the moon seems larger
when it's closer to
> the horizon than when higher in the sky.
>
> I followed most of it with interest as I have seen the moon a couple of
time when out in the
> desert late night, early morning when it looked like it was going to
swallow up everything around
> it.
> My question is this, it seemed that most people thought that it was a
optical illusion
> caused by our brain translating information.   If that is true, why is it
that I've seem some
> photographs that show this illusion also, as the camera lens only records
what it see, without any
> brain to translate the vision prospective.
> Any thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jerry
>
>