Family Astronomy: Check out the Solstice Moon Tonight

Tonight, in the evening sky, you and your family can observe a phenonmenon known as the "Solstice Moon". This is an optical illusion in which the moon, just above the horizon, looks much bigger than it normally is.

Last year, my children asked me if the moon was actually closer to the earth, and so I asked Jay Ryan, author of Signs and Seasons, a Classical visual astronomy curriculum, who explained to me that this is an optical illusion caused by our own perception. In essence, it's all in our minds. Strange, huh?

This evening, try something with your kids. put something in your hands....maybe a pencil, or a ruler, or something of that sort, and hold it at arm's length from you, and "measure" the size of the moon at the horizon. After it rises overhead, use the same technique to "measure" it again. It's the same size!

For more information, USA Today has an article on this today too: The Solstice Moon