A week or so ago, I took Isabelle out to show her a spectacular full moon that I had noticed on my drive home. Since it was low on the horizon, it appeared very large. This is an optical illusion, since all full moons are the same size. Humans just tend to interpret things as larger when they are close to the horizon (because of context clues) rather than when overhead. This is also why the rising and setting sun seem larger. It's almost hard to believe until you try a simple experiment: try covering the full moon or sun with a fingertip while it is close to the horizon (and appears extra big to us) and then try it again later when it is high in the sky and you will find that it is indeed the same size...
When I took Isabelle out, we noticed a circular rainbow around the moon which I had never seen before: apparently this is a moon corona and it is caused by the diffraction of the moon's reflected sunlight through droplets of water just like regular rainbows:
I only just learned (thank you, Wikipedia!) that all full moons have names and this one was the "Hunter's Moon" according to one naming system.
What other cool things are there that I don't know that I wouldn't find out about without kids to share them with?
I love this post. That Isabelle is going to be one smart little cookie.
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