The question of why the Moon sometimes appears larger than usual and has a different color is not a simple one, as it has many implications. First, let’s go to color perception, which is real. Sometimes we see the Moon really orange and sometimes even red. We see it in orange when it’s on the horizon, and that’s very easy to understand. For the same reason, we see the Sun more orange at sunrise and sunset. This is due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. The atmosphere is full of small molecules that scatter light differently depending on the color of that light. The bluer, which has a shorter wavelength, is scattered in all directions. But red (or orange) light, which has a longer wavelength, is able to travel greater distances through these particles and reach us. This is also why we see the sky as blue.
When a lunar eclipse occurs, we can also observe this phenomenon, even though it is high in the sky and not on the horizon. In this case, the light passes through the Earth’s atmosphere in the middle. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth gets in the way of the sun’s rays reflecting off the surface of the moon. The blue light that passes through the Earth’s atmosphere is scattered in all directions so that it does not reach the surface of the Moon, and the redder light arrives because it is not scattered as much, which is why we see the Moon in this color.
In short, there are two occasions when we see the Moon a different color, more reddish. One is when it is on the horizon and the other is during a lunar eclipse. But the amount of suspended dust in the atmosphere can also cause us to see orange moons or suns, for example in haze or if there are large fires.
In terms of size, large moons are always an optical illusion. For example, on the same full moon night, the distance between our satellite and us does not change, we see it rising in the east and setting in the west. And yet we perceive it to be very large when it is on the horizon, and smaller when it is above our heads. What happens is that when it’s on the horizon, it’s normal to have some reference point: a tree, a mountain, a building… That’s why it seems very big to us. However, when it is on top, it seems smaller to us because we have nothing to compare it to. But it’s very easy to check if it’s the same size. You can take a picture with him Enlargement in both cases or stretch out your arm and compare it to the nail. If we measure it, the size is exactly the same. And that’s because the distance between the Moon and the Earth doesn’t change overnight. The size is exactly the same because the distance is the same. This difference in evaluation is thought to be a result of how our brain processes distances when it has a very distant object and has to look for a closer object as a reference.
That is, we know that its size is the same, and we also know that when we look at it at those different moments, it appears to us that it is not, but we still do not understand exactly why this happens.
You may have heard of it supermoon. Although it is a term that is not accepted by the International Astronomical Union, which is the organization responsible for naming and classifying celestial objects, it is quite popular. The Moon’s orbit is not circular, it is elliptical. This means that sometimes it is closer to Earth than other times, and the difference in distance is very large. The shortest distance is 330,000 kilometers, called perigee, and the longest, apogee, is about 407,000. The moment when the Moon is closest to the Earth does not always coincide with the full moon, but when it does, it is called apogee. supermoon. Although it is important to remember that it does not appear larger at that moment, only using professional binoculars would be able to measure the difference in size, but to the naked eye it appears as always.
Eva Villaver Sobrino She has a doctorate in astrophysics, Director of the Office for Space and Society of the Spanish Space Agency and Research Professor at the Astrophysical Institute of the Canary Islands.
Inquiry emailed from Luka Pérez Lazkoz (11 years).
Coordination and writing:Victoria Toro.
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