Anyone ever seen an outrageously large moon before?

[BeckWhy]

The meteor shower thread made me think of this.

When I was young, very young, elementary school age... I was walking down my road and got to the end and looked up the hill and it appeared that the moon was sitting right on top of the hill. It was HUGE! Looked like it was about 30 feet in diameter (or something).

I think there's a name for it, harvest or hunter's moon, maybe?

Just curious if anyone else has ever experienced anything like it. For the longest time I thought I was kinda nuts (but I made a neighbor see it with me to vouch that I wasn't nuts).

 

[Ludacris]

nope. you is nuts.

 

[BeckWhy]

I just did a wee bit of research and it does happen.. but rarely. The extremely large moon that I saw only occurs when the full moon falls around the time of the fall equinox.

Here are some pics:

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

From what I understand, the "harvest moon" is simply an optical illusion. When the moon is low and closer to the horizon, it appears to be huge, when actually, it's the same distance that it's always been. It's really is beautiful when it happens...

 

[sara74]

I could have written your post! I still remember that night! I was in 2nd or 3rd grade (since we only lived on that street at that time) and I ran back inside to get my mom to ask her what it was! The moon I saw looked a lot like the one behind the lone tree. Huge, orange and low! Just the most beautiful amazing thing I ever saw. And mom still makes fun of me for not recognizing the moon that night!

I hope my kids can see the moon like that someday. I really felt like I could reach out and touch it!

 

[RobinMarie]

We call it Cosmo's Moon now, after the movie Moonstruck.

Thanks for the date on the Harvest moon, great photo opportunity!

 

[Charade]

I remember seeing one when I was in grade school. In the mid/late 60's. It was so big it scared the crap out of me. Older kids were teasing me. I wouldn't walk a few blocks to go to the store.