Does the moon get bigger or smaller it sure looks like it sometimes?
407992
No its because the atmosphere acts like a lense. When the moon is high in the sky, the atmosphere has little affect on what the moon looks like so it will be smaller, but as it gets closer and closer to the horizon, you will be looking through a lot more atmosphere, which is like a lense of a magnifying glass. Thats why when it is low in the sky, the moon is very huge looking.\n\nBy the way, just for future reference, all orbits are eliptical because a perfectly circular orbit is only theoretical, and would never occur in nature. However the moon's orbit is close enough to circular to not affect how big it looks compared to the affect the atmosphere does.
243834
Yes, the moon goes around the Earth at a much slower rate (28 days) than the Earth spins around once (24 hrs).\nClick on the link to the animation below. Notice how the Earth spins while the part of the moon facing us changes.
462021
It doesn't GET any bigger than it is, it just LOOKS bigger because it really IS nearer\n\nBecause its distance from the earth varies as the orbit is not a circle, as you asssume, but an ellipse (oval).\n\nThe furthest distance from the earth that the moon reaches in any orbit (lunar month) is called the APOGEE and the nearest distance it approaches in that orbit is the PERIGEE.\n\nIn the table below the distances are in kilometres, measured from the centre of the earth to the centre of the moon.\n\nJust gone:\n\nMar 13  APOGEE 406272 km \nMar 28  PERIGEE 359169 km\n\nComing up soon:\n    \nApr  9 APOGEE 405549 km    \nApr 25 PERIGEE 363735 km  \n\nThe earth's orbit round the Sun is an ellipse too, and the nearest distance in any one orbit (year) is called PERIHELION and the furthest distance in that orbit is called APHELION.\n\nHelios is the Greek word for the sun and Peri- and Ap- are prefixes meaning near to and far from. The sun looks correspondingly smaller at aphelion and larger at perihelion.  \n\nSometimes eclipses of the sun are not quite total if the sun is bigger than usual (near or at perihelion) and the moon smaller than usual (near or at apogee).\n\nThere is a more pronounced variation in the distance between Earth and Mars than either the variation in Sun-Earth or Earth-Moon distances. Mars looks a lot brighter and a lot dimmer as a consequence, at these times.\n\nTo visualise why, think of a clock face. The sun is in the middle of the dial. The earth is on the tip of the hour hand and Mars is on the tip of the minute hand. When the time on the clock face is midnight, five past one, ten past two etc earth and Mars are at their closest. When the time on the clock face is 12.33, 1.37, 2.43 etc Earth and Mars are at their furtherst apart, Mars being the radius of an earth orbit plus the radius of a Mars orbit away, beyond the Sun.\n\n(This too-simple model assumes circles not ellipses and assumes that Mars years are twelve Earth years, where in reality Mars years are only about twice an Earth year. But it gives you a general idea.)
245326
It's an optical illusion, because you can easily compare it to other objects on the ground when the moon is closer to the ground.
289555
The Moon's apparent size is an illusion based on its apparent proximity to other objects (stars, mountains, trees, buildings).  The Moon alone in the "middle of the sky" can seem quite small, but a few foreground objects of the correct relative proportion will impart the illusion.\n\nTo "correct" the illusion, hold your thumb up at arms length and compare it to the moon at different times of the day and night (visibility dependent, of course).
686750
They actually do, but as previously stated the moon is much less massive than the Earth so we don't rotate as much compared to the moon. \n\nIncidentally: the Moon is not rotating around the Earth in a strict sense, it's actually spiraling away at about one inch per year, eventually the Moon will escape orbit. Just FYI.
344029
The moon's got gravity too, and like the Earth pulls the moon, the moon pulls on the Earth's waters. Depending on where the moon is, you get different tides. Kinda like if you move a magnet in a circle around a paperclip. The paperclip will move in different directions depending on where the magnet is.
1087183
The moon has a side that always faces us! That's not always filled with light though. That's why we have phases of the moon.
47103
It is presumed that we perceive the sun/moon larger near the horizon because its in close proximity to buildings and other frames of reference, and our eyes compare the size of the moon to the buildings and other horizon features. \n\nUp in the sky, there is no frame of reference, and without it, the moon appears smaller.
208035
Relative position in the sky. The earth's atmosphere helps distort the size as the moon is "lower" in the sky, so then it appears larger.
830404
The moon is often visible during the daytime! If it's not visible during the daytime where you are, it's visible from somewhere else on Earth.
536217
The Moon's mass is less but you're closer to the centre.   Gravity goes up as the square of your distance from the centre.
448771
I think it would because while the sun and the moon both shine, the moon is not boastful and sometimes hides away only showing it's light some of the time and, even then, only softly. Doesn't that seem beautiful to you?
855641
a long time ago, when the moon wasnt so big
59958
Could be the "Moon Illusion" - since often, the moon will appear closer to the horizon in the northern hemisphere than in the southern, the same reason it looks bigger near the horizon at any latitude applies.  Read the link below for more info on what the moon illusion is.
756100
i would generally say no its not, as the atmosphere is only between 5 adn 10 miles high, the moon is considerably further away than this.\n\ncant explainy why its like this has something to do with the creation of the solar system the mood being far away and such.
21430
The theories presented so far have been pretty much debunked. The following link gives an elaborate explanation of this illusion. But even it fails to explain why we don't see this illusion every time the moon rises. It does not always appear larger at moonrise than when it is higher in the sky. Also, the moon may appear to be different sizes on different nights even in the same location. I'm still looking for a plausable explanation. \n\nhttp://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/