September 23, 2004
goodnight moon II
the moon seems particularly large lately, even though its only partially full right now. does anyone know, are we closer in orbit to it currently? or am i just being more observant than usual and its always as noticeable as it is now? either way, it makes for an interesting and challenging photo subject. because it's so far away and surrounded by total darkness it makes for interesting metering. my camera wanted to shoot the scene originally at 1/6 second exposure but i found that the moon itself was totally overexposed. i think i finally settled on 1/500 second in order to get the detail you see here.
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a few things to announce...
- isaac wardell has a show tonight at rhythm and brews, along with dawn kinnard and cast king. i think this one will be a bit more low-key than the last, but should be a great set all around. cast king sounds particularly interesting - an old codger from sand mountain who's been playing for years and was just recently "discovered" i believe.
- the good folks at mojo burrito are trying to sell their navy blue 2002 subaru forrester. its in great shape and they're asking $14,500 for it. i told them i'd post the info for them - so if you're interested swing by the shop and ask someone behind the counter about it. it's usually sitting out front if you want to have a look.
Here is the answer to your question:
The distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon is constantly changing. It varies by some 12 percent during each month. A passing asteroid can tug at the Moon and alter its position in relation to Earth, albeit ever so slightly. And over time, the Moon is creeping away from us, moving about 1 inch a year, on average, into space.
Still, there are some agreed-upon parameters. The Earth-Moon distance is, on average, roughly 238,900 miles (384,402 km). And astronomers know this to within about 1 inch (2 cm) of accuracy.Posted by: Scott at September 23, 2004 12:57 PM
Nice photo, by the way. I especially like how it is framed.
Posted by: Scott at September 23, 2004 12:58 PMI once asked Chris McCartney about this subject. I trust Chris. He's probably the smartest person I've ever personally known.
He said that the size of the moon is entirely a matter of perspective and not "size." First, the moon doesn't change sizes, which is obvious. Second, the distance from the earth doesn't change enough for us to notice the difference.
What is really at work is the way that our eyes see the moon in comparison with the horizon rather than the big empty sky. He said, and my own experience confirms, that the times that the moon looks large to us are times that it is low on the horizon, when we can compare it to the objects on the horizon. To test his hypothesis you can "cup" your hand so that it blocks out the horizon and all that you see is the moon surrounded by black sky. Alteratively you could probably just use your camera to do the same thing. When I've done this, the moon no longer looks big- it looks like the normal size that we usually see up in the sky.
Sorry for the long explanation- anything to avoid reading for Evidence class.
B.
Posted by: Ben H. at September 23, 2004 01:49 PMi'm impatiently trying to keep my son's mitts off the computer keys as I check out your blog Andy, and I then realize that he's reaching up at the screen going, "moom! moom!" and so his vocabulary increases- thanks andy! Now to actually attend to him...
Posted by: Katie at September 23, 2004 05:52 PMgreat picture andy. it almost feels like you were in space.
Posted by: bethany at September 24, 2004 12:48 PMAndy, I don't know about other seasonal visual distortions, but the moon also looks big on the horizon (not just because of proximal comparisions) but because of atmospheric magnification...
you know how the sun looks red-ish, squashy, and a bit bigger when it sets... same with the moon.
or someone told me that once and I believed them. So I pass the folk-wisdom on to you to take it as you wish.
Andy...I really enjoyed this picture and after I got my new camera I went and took some photos of the moon. Here's a link if you want to check one of them out.
Posted by: Matt at September 27, 2004 11:11 PMOmg thats right! Please come see me and my friends! ;)
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