Why does the
Moon follow us when we drive ?
Before we talk about the Moon aspect let us talk about the
objects on our own earth. When we are driving or traveling by train the nearest objects to the Railway track or Road say Trees, houses, fences, the road – all fly past us in the opposite direction. This is only a feeling, a psychological reaction. When we notice that everything moves past us.
Coming back to our topic in question, the Moon does not look as if it is very far away but its
distance from the earth averages 239,000 miles. The diameter of the moon is 2160
miles or lesser than the distance across the United States. But when the moon is observed with a very large telescope it looks as if it were only 200 miles away.
Because the moon seems so close and big to us we sometimes forget that 239,000 miles is quite a distance away. It is this great distance that explains why the moon seems to follow us when we drive in a vehicle and look up at it.
Now there is moon part of what we see as we look out we naturally expect it also to be flying past us, or at least to be moving backward as we speed ahead like aforesaid nearby objects like trees, houses, roads etc., When this does not happen, we have the sensation that moon is “following” us.
But why does not it happen? Because the distance of the moon from the earth is quite great as. compared to the distance our vehicle travels in a few minutes. The distance being enormous , as we move along, the angle at which we see the moon hardly changes.
In fact, we could go along a straight path for miles and the angle at which we would see the moon would still be basically the same. And as we notice everything else flying past, we get the feeling of the moon “following” us.
One more paradox if you have observed is that when Moon is rising or setting close to the horizon it appears bigger in size as compared to when the moon is at zenith. This is again an illusion. At horizon in contrast with earthly objects the
disc of the moon appears bigger whereas at zenith there is no contrast and the moon appears as a l disc along with dotted stars. It may be noted in both positions there is absolutely no change in disc / moon size.
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