General Question

flo's avatar

Was the half moon larger on March 4, 2017 than March 5, 2017, if so why?

Asked by flo (13313points) March 6th, 2017

As asked.

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8 Answers

stanleybmanly's avatar

From what I recall those huge moons are optical illusions. The thing always appears bigger the closer it is to the horizon. The term “half moon” is rather arbitrary, since the surface area of the moon reflected to your eye varies nightly as the moon either waxes or wanes.

zenvelo's avatar

The moon’s appearance is currently *waxing,*and reached the First Quarter at 3:32 a.m PST (6:32 a.m. EST) on March 5. So the moon appeared larger on March 5 than on March 4.

It may have seemed larger to you depending on where it was in the sky at the two times you saw it, as @stanleybmanly described.

flo's avatar

Too confusing to me.

flo's avatar

…Thanks for your answers though @stanleybmanly and @zenvelo

flo's avatar

@stanleybmanly and @zenvelo, I don’t mean your answers are confusing, I mean the whole thing about the moon and other things in the sky. For example: “new moon”. I was thinking new moon would be moon that’s visible to us, .... but it’s not, it’s when it’s impossible to see the moon.
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-tides-causes-effects.html

stanleybmanly's avatar

“New” just means the beginning of the cycle. The “new” moon is the first phase of the cycle.

flo's avatar

@stanleybmanly Now that I know what they mean after reading about it,... or asked a question about it…etc.

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