"Dave Ludlow" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 17:04:23 +0100, "Simonb"
wrote:

Stuart wrote:
i noticed this last night at about 21:50, the moon was low to the
south and it looked maasive, i was going to stop and take a photo,
but i would have been late for work, didnt want the hassle of that!
But it was a lovely sight!

Funny thing is, if you had taken a photo the enlarged effect would have
been
lost as it's an optical illusion.

The same optical illusion will be present near moonrise and moonset at
every other full moon in every year, will it not?

--
Dave

Of course it will, Dave, but that is not news.

The particular characteristic about this full moon is that the moon has an
exceptionally high southern declination of -28d 40m, due to the position of
the moon's nodes along the ecliptic in its 18 year cycle. As a result, at
this latitude (Farnborough, Hants) it only remains above the horizon for 6h
48m and its maximum altitude is just over 10 degrees.

It so happens also that the moon is at the closest point to the earth in its
elliptical orbit tomorrow (23rd) so its apparent diameter is about 12%
greater than it was near new moon two weeks ago.

The optical illusion that occurs at moonrise and moonset will be no
different from usual however.

Regards, Roger