5e: Why do Sun and Moon appear to us at the same size?

Some say it is God's will or there is a great plan hidden behind. Most say it is a very special coincidence: The visible size of Moon.
When describing the Venus Transit I have explained the difference between apparent and absolute size of celestial objects. Once in life an astronomer will meet such an error in reasoning. Lunar observations are not as insidious as looking at other celestial bodies.
At childhood we learned that the moon is a small satellite of Earth. So we understand intuitively, that Sun has not the same size as Moon. Even though it looks like. But total solar eclipses precisely occur, when Sun and Moon show the same apparent size (see: Fig. 44).



Read more at:
5f: Why do we observe annular solar eclipses seldom?

Back to: Evaluating the image sequence

Back to directory