Why does the moon get larger when it is closer to the horizon?
477677
Cautious cook is a moron!  The moon, as anyone knows who passed high school physical science, remains the same distance while orbiting around the earth (us).  Also, interesting to note, the rotation of the moon is, in relation to the orbit, the same speed.  Meaning no matter at what part of the orbit, the moon is, we always see, the same side of the moon.  This is known as the light side of the moon.  The only way to see the dark side is to go there.  Apollo did this.  Now, onto your question it is very easily answered.  Just as a lens warps light to make things appear closer or farther away, the atmosphere of the earth is curved causing the same effect towards the horizon.  The reason you don't have this effect when the moon is overhead is because you are looking through less of the atmosphere, and the effect is less prominent.
678783
Obviously the moon has to be between the Sun and the\nEarth, so maybe they want you to say, "when the Moon is new".\nNote that this is the *opposite* of a full moon.
39332
The does get closer to the sun every year but the order of magnitude is so small on astronomical scales it has no impact on the ice caps. This is for the same reason that the moon moves slightly closer to Earth by about 1 cm or so every year, orbital decay, which is a lose of energy due to tidal forces and drag. \nThe earth does get closer and farther away for the sun at different points of it's orbit because the orbit is a ellipse and not a perfect circle.
10335
If we assume that visibility is unlimited, then the horizon is always the same distance away from a specific point. How far is the line of the horizon depends on the altitude of the point - the higher the point, the further away the horizon. By the same token, you will be able to see high mountains that are close to, but beyond the low-lying horizon line.\n\nOn other planets/moons the distance to the horizon is a function of their diameter - the bigger the body, the further away the horizon is from a given point.
865138
The plane of the orbit of the moon is close to the plane of the ecliptic, so the curve of the earth takes you a little bit closer to the moon in the tropical regions.  Therefore: Hawaii.\n\nBut it's not a big effect---not big enough to be noticable by eye.  The moon appears almost the same size from everywhere on earth.
957189
This is an optical illusion - It has to do with how the brain interpretes things that are in front of you compared to above you. Try this for yourself: Take a dime and hold it out in front of you to cover the moon. You will see the moon is the same size both in front and overhead.
591541
While refraction by the atmosphere is too small to affect the apparent diameter of the moon except perhaps when it is within one diameter of the horizon (and in this case, the moon will appear stretched a bit in the direction perpindicular to the horizon) it does appear larger to our brains when on the horizon because we see it in reference to distant large objects.  Gives the impression of it looking bigger, however if you could look straight up at the moon, and see a bunch of trees a mile up in sky between you and the moon it would look just as large as when it is near the horizon.  (If you ever do see this by the way, seek shelter or psychiatric treatment immediately!)\n\nThe moons orbit IS elliptical, however, and at times will be closer to the earth than others.  This phenomenon is called "lunation" and there is a great still and a gif animation of this at the Astronomy Picture of the Day.\n\nhttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041021.html\nhttp://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991108.html\n\nThe moon's surface brightness (brightness per area) also varies with phase. Because larger particles tend to reflect a bit more light directly back at the light source than in other directions (look up "Mie" scattering) a given bit of the moon will appear brighter when the earth is in the direction of the sun as seen from the moon. (All three are in a line with the Earth more or less between). This occurs when the moon is full or near full. This brightening might make the moon look larger.
229761
First, one can't see the entire Moon from Earth; only one side of the Moon faces the Earth directly, this is the near side of the Moon. The far side of the Moon (sometimes innacurately called the dark side of the Moon) always faces away. this behavior is due to tidal lock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_lock .\nSecondly, one may not see the near side of the Moon due to atmospheric phenomena. This is trivial.\nThirdly, one may not see the entire near side of the Moon due to the orientation of the Sun with respect to the Moon. The Sun may be shining on some other side of the Moon with respect to our viewing angle on Earth and thus we only see a fraction of the near side lit up by sunlight. To see this graphically, look at the diagram of Moon phases on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_the_moon .\nFinally, one may not see the Moon due to a lunar or solar eclipse. This is caused by the Earth's shadow falling on the Moon in the first case and by the Moon blocking the sunlight from falling on the Earth in your region in the second case. These both occur when the Moon, Earth and Sun are approximately in a line. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipses for diagrams.\nAlso, the Moon may not be visible because it simply has not risen yet. ;)
836687
the Moon\n\nwhy?\n\nthe Sun has a greater gravitational pull on Earth, than the Moon does.\n\nbut what matters are tidal forces, i.e. the difference in how strong the body pulls on the side of the Earth closer to it, and the other side, further from it.\n\nin the case of the Sun, which is very far, the difference in the force on the side of the Earth facing the Sun, and that facing away, is tiny\n\nwhereas in the case of the Moon, which is of course much smaller but also much, much closer, that difference is quite important\n\ntherefore, on the Earth, the tidal forces from the Moon are massively higher than those from the Sun\n\nwhich is why the Moon controls tides
41122
So the tides are caused by the graviational pull of the sun and the moon.  The moon is a lot closer, so it's pull is much stronger (even though it's the smaller body) and the position of the sun relative to the moon determines how big the difference between high and low tide is (it's bigger when they're lined up).  The moon pulls all the water on the Earth towards it (actually it pulls on everything, but because water is fluid it's the only thing that moves noticeably in response).  So the there's more water on one side of the Earth than the other, so one side has high tide because there's a whole bunch of extra water over there, and the other side has low tide because of all that water that was pulled to the other side.  As the Earth rotates, a different part will be closest to the Moon and the bulge of water will shift.\n\nThe actual mechanics of tides are a bit more complicated than that (I didn't account for the effect of the Earth's rotation, among other things), but that's the general principle that allows there to be tides on both sides.
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.
62251
You could ask the same about the sun (although the angle of Earth's rotational axis makes things somewhat more complicated in the polar regions). The moon is simply so far from earth that your position on earth's surface becomes secondary. Half a day the earth's rotation will bring you onto the side where the moon is, half a day it will bring you onto the opposite side.\n\nI know from personal experience that the moon remains visible and fairly high on the horizon even beyond the arctic circle when the sun won't rise above the horizon any more. Apparently earth's rotational axis is (almost?) perpendicular to the plane in which earth and moon circle one another.
869305
The appearance of the Moon is also dependent on the fact the the Earth is rotating on its axis. Objects appear at the horizon, drift overhead and slip below the horizon again. that is the main reason the Moon looks as it does.\n\n;-D The Moon is romantic! Let's not forget that!
410954
The Earth is round.\nObviously at lower latitudes you view the moon from a different angle than what you would at higher latitudes.\nSo that at the equater the moon when rising would look like a bowl from that angle in that phase.
280642
It is a coincidence.\n\nThe sun is much larger than the moon (~400 times), and yet the moon is much closer than the sun (~400 times).\nIt is remarkable coincidence that right now, as seen from the Earth, both the moon and the sun appear the same size.\nIt will not stay this way forever, the moon is very slowly moving away from the Earth, eventually it will get far enough away that it will look smaller than the sun and there will be no such thing as a total solar eclipse.
1141345
This effect is called the moon illusion and has been debated for years. Although the moon appears larger near the horizon, it really isn't. You can measure the size of the moon by holding a hole-punched index card at arm's length. The moon is about the same size as the hole both on the horizon and high in the sky. \n\nSome people believe the moon appears larger on the horizon because you have reference points like trees and buildings. Not true. The moon illusion is caused by how we perceive the sky. It is too complicated for me to explain, but these Web sites below will make everything crystal clear:
1185431
Because in the greater scheme of things, the distance you are travelling is miniscule compared to the distance to the Moon.\n\nEver notice how telephone poles rush by but distant mountains take a while to pass? Poles are closer so they pass by quicker, mountains are a bit further away, they take longer. The Moon is considerably more distant than either so it appears to stand still.