Full Moon: A Conversation with Luke

On the way home this evening, Luke noticed the beautiful full moon hanging low on the horizon and looking especially large and lovely. I have to agree that his explanation as to why makes much more sense than mine!

• Luke: The moon is really big tonight!
• Me: Yes, it does look big tonight.
• Luke: Why sometimes it’s bigger and sometimes it’s smaller?
• Me (trying to answer honestly): Well, the moon doesn’t actually change size. It’s always the same. It just looks bigger or smaller sometimes, like an airplane up in the air.
• Luke: But it’s bigger tonight!
• Me: It does look bigger tonight, but it’s really not. When things look different than what you know is real, that is called an optical illusion. What you’re seeing isn’t really real. [NOTE: I didn’t really expect him to understand, but I did want to start introducing the concept.]
• ::a silent pause of several seconds; I could practically hear the wheels turning::
• Luke: Maybe the astronauts filled it up with air, or gave it extra food.