This story was originally published in our May/June 2022 issue as "A Lunar Mystery." Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.
Have you ever looked at the nighttime horizon and gasped at the sight of a spectacularly large moonrise? Typically, if you glance up at the sky hours later, the moon will seem to have shrunk.
Dubbed the moon illusion, this phenomenon has been witnessed for thousands of years, a visual trickery that takes place all in the mind. And, even after so long, scientists still disagree on what exactly is happening in our brains. To test it, you can snap a picture of the rising moon on the horizon and compare it to an image taken later that night. The size will remain consistent, even if your eyes deceive in the moment. Similarly, during a supermoon, when the date of the full moon coincides with ...
