Why are the sun and moon the same size in the sky?

Why are the sun and moon the same size in the sky?

Oh I don't know, let's ask Almighty 0bama, Creator of Heavens and Earth, ask him exactly how he pulled that off.

“it is all thanks to a striking coincidence.”

I was looking for that. They ALWAYS make sure that’s in the first paragraph.

Yes, it’s just one of MANY glaringly obvious “coincedences” by which God gives us his signature.

It is all thanks to a striking coincidence

Like the same happy "coincidence" that cocoa butter (chocolate) melts at the same average temperature of the human body. Thanks Oh Great Creator of "coincidence". :-)

Reminds me of a ‘blonde’ joke.

Two blondes in Chicago were talking, and one asked the other “What's closer, Texas or the Moon?”
The other replied “Duh! Can you see Texas?”

So they can dirty dance together?

I wish we had two moons at the same distance so they could have clacker like encounters from time to time.

Like the same happy "coincidence" that cocoa butter (chocolate) melts at the same average temperature of the human body.

So that explains why chocolate tastes so good, ehhh? :)

1: JAN (real old-timers will understand)
2: Obama wants all to be the same, regardless of our usefulness.

It doesn't matter if you are a gigantic heat, light and energy producer, or a large dead useless rock that only changed because of the impact of expensive, taxpayer-funded government programs on it (Apollo, etc.) and then just changed a tiny bit, Obama wants us all to get the same recognition, (except ACORN and big time Dem donors, of course.)

lets check out the manual, see what it says!

Gen 1:14a
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs,

See #9

:`)

Has to be Global Warming. That is the root of all evil and the cause of all problems.

Girl cop pulled over a drunken guy and said “ anything you say will be held against you” he replied “ TITTIES “!!!!

Earth is also the only planet to harbour life

And, you know this how ?

Really helped reaffirm my Faith. I said to myself “SOMEBODY had to have planned this” when I found out. I mean the joy of “melts in your mouth”. I can’t possibly think of any use for chocolate syrup, other than an occasional sundae. Would seem like such a waste. :-)

“The same size” means approximately, not exactly. On average, the Sun appears slightly larger than the Moon in our sky, although both vary slightly in apparent size due to the eccentricities of Earth’s and the Moon’s orbits. Because of these variations sometimes the Moon appears larger than the Sun, and if it passes in front of the Sun at that time a total solar eclipse occurs. Other times, the Moon appears smaller, and if it passes in front of the Sun then, an annular eclipse occurs, where a thin ring of sunlight remains around its edge, where the Moon is not large enough to cover it.

Also, like the article stated, the Moon is slowly moving away from us, and millions of years later it will appear small enough that all solar eclipses will be annular (or partial). And hundreds of millions of years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs, the Moon appeared distinctly larger than the Sun.

The poster didn't write that, the author of the article did. He (the author) made a careless mistake and should have said, "Earth is the only planet known to harbor life."

This thread is to much for “Super-Bowl Saturday”, but for some insane reason I had to read it. :^)

The relative sizes also allows for annular eclipses, such as the one this past Monday visible in Asia which heralded the Chinese New Year -- of the "Ox", in this go-round.

(Obviously, a sign from above blessing the presence of the One in our midst...)

Jill, chill LOL daffy’s cool, I'm savy to the protocol.

Gen 1:14a
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs

Ahhh c'mon now, that's 'old' thinking, we're in the New Age of 0bama, didn't you have your epiphany and vote for B'rack?

Good thing Alcee Hastings is introducing legislation for FEMA camps in case of an 'emergency' because you sound like a real troublemaker, you need to be reeducated! ;)

The article doesn’t answer the question “Why are the sun and moon the same size in the sky?”
Why don’t they just say that they don’t know!

Speaking of space, I found this interesting video on YouTube the other day showing the scaled sizes of different planets and suns. Makes me feel like the "Whos" in "Whosville".

Our Solar System - Size Of Planets and Stars to Scale

It has to be celestial affirmative action. The sun is forced to locate itself further from the Earth so that it will appear the same size, thus preventing the moon from developing an inferiority complex.

"The sun is about 400 times as wide as the moon, but it is also 400 times further away. The two therefore look the same size in the sky.."

I can do that math in my head ..... and I'm blond. ;)

LOL - love it.

From the moon the Earth looks eight times smaller b/c we are 800 times further away from the Sun than we are from other satellites as when objects in the rear view mirror appear closer than they are.

LOL

I wonder how many people even know what a clacker is?

Why do you drive on a parkway, but park on a driveway?

hey!

What’s the big Idea posting that without warning people to NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE ECLIPSE!

It’s an excellent video, I think I first saw it on phys.org and the background music is great. Thanks for the reminder.

We will understand this when we figure out why Frosted Flakes have frosting, but pitted prunes DON’T have pits... and liberals aren’t about liberty.

a striking coincidence

"That's too coincidental to be a coincidence." - Yogi Berra

Sooooo....what's your perspective on

It's math:

It is one of the most interesting coincidence in the solar system that enables full Solar Eclipse.
The ratio of distance between the Sun and Earth, & Moon and Earth is almost exactly proportionate to the ratio of size of Sun to Moon.
In astronomy the sizes of objects in the sky are often given in terms of their angular diameter as seen from Earth, rather than their actual sizes.
The angular diameter of Earth's orbit around the Sun, from a distance of one parsec, is 2" (two arcseconds).
The angular diameter of the Sun, from a distance of one light-year, is 0.03", and that of the Earth 0.0003". The angular diameter 0.03" of the Sun given above is approximately the same as that of a person at a distance of the diameter of the Earth
This table shows the angular sizes of noteworthy celestial bodies as seen from the Earth:
Sun : 31.6' – 32.7'
Moon : 29.3′ – 34.1'
Venus : 10″ – 66″
Jupiter : 30″ – 49″
Saturn : 15″ – 20″
Mars : 4″ – 25″
Mercury : 5″ – 13″
Uranus : 3″ – 4″
Neptune : 2″
Ceres : 0.8″
Pluto : 0.1″
Eris : 40 mas

As can be seen the angular diameter of the Sun is about the same as that of the Moon (the diameter is 400 times as large and the distance also; the Sun is 200,000-500,000 times as bright as the full Moon (figures vary), corresponding to an angular diameter ratio of 450-700, so a celestial body with a diameter of 2.5-4" and the same brightness per unit solid angle would have the same brightness as the full Moon).
The angular diameter of an object as seen from a given position is the "visual diameter" of the object measured as an angle. In the vision sciences it is called the visual angle. The visual diameter is the diameter of the perspective projection of the object on a plane through its centre that is perpendicular to the viewing direction. Because of foreshortening, it may be quite different from the actual physical diameter for an object that is seen under an angle. For a disk-shaped object at a large distance, the visual and actual diameters are the same.

That’s cool.

I witnessed a total solar eclipse in 1979 here on our North American continent. About 2 to 3 minutes in totality. One of the most amazing experiences in my life. It was worth the trip.

“The heavens declare the glory of God.”

LOLOLOLOL. Stop it thats making me laugh to hard.

The author was being optimistic in reckoning total eclipses at any point as “once in a lifetime.” I think that Jan Meesus gives the average interval between totality for a point on earth as about 325 years. (It’s a difficult calculation.) However, occasionally some places have two eclipses less than 18 monthes apart. The last total eclipse in New York City was in 1925, for instance.

It’s provocative that Nova Scotia had two eclipses in the early 1970’s either of which was before Carly Simon’s “Your so vain.?

Considering the length of time a total eclipse lasts, it's an amazing thing to see!

Diamond Ring Effect During 1979 Eclipse (79SE2-4)

The last rays of sunlight shine through deep lunar valleys as the solar corona leaps into view. This eclipse was also noteworthy for the brilliant red solar prominences visible around the Moon's limb.

Total Solar Eclipse of 1979 February 26 (Riverton, MANITOBA) 60mm f/15 achromatic refractor (f.l. = 910mm)
Photo ©1979 by Fred Espenak

Yes, liked the background music too. Definitely went with the video.

During totality it is safe to look directly at the sun--when it's totally hidden. That's what I was told in 1999 when I was fortunate to see the total eclipse that was visible in Europe.

The next one which will be visible in the US will be on August 21, 2017, passing from Oregon to South Carolina, followed by one on April 8, 2024, passing from Texas up to Maine.

There is one total eclipse this year, on July 22, a very long one (6 minutes 39 seconds of totality at the best locations), but it will be visible only in parts of Asia and the Pacific.

I read once that on average a particular spot is in the path of a total eclipse once every 360 years.

You'll have to wait until 2017 for the next total eclipse.

Totality will occur somewheres around the Land Between the Lake, Kentucky.

Noonish. So bring me a ham sandwich, will ya.

Here's one for you ...

Sit about 1 meter from your screen and hold up your thumb halfway between you and it, look at your thumb, then focus on the image you see just behind it (you can move your thumb forward and back till this occurs), remove thumb.

You should hopefully have combined the two images into a single 3D one.

re: I wonder how many people even know what a clacker is?

I know! I know! It's cracker pronounced by an Asian?

That’s pretty neat! Thanks for posting. I knew you could get a 3D image like that but had not heard the tip about using your thumb to set it up.

I am a professional freelance photographer, starving artist in my wife’s language. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I was enamored with stereo pictures. I have an adapter for my Nikon cameras that lets me take stereo pairs. What a blast. Never could figure out how to make money with it, but that’s hardly unique to my career.

I am going to download your moon image and use it to make some similar images from my own pictures. If I have any luck I’ll post a couple for you to try out. I went through a real phase of looking for things to really take advantage of the 3D effect. But then I passed out of that phase, into another similarly titillating but unprofitable phase. This time it was large format printing. I love making posters and have even managed to sell a few.

Thanks for the post! At least this time I’ll be dabbling in something that won’t cost me a fortune since I already have the equipment!

There is a fascinating and very well made documentary, "The Privileged Plant" that goes into great detail about how unique Earth is not only to have life, but even more to let its inhabitants explore the rest of universe. I would would heartily recommend both the video and the book! Here's a link to the info about it:

The Privileged Planet

There's a link there to view a sample of the video. I didn't check it out, but it's probably worth the effort.