1. Question: Why does the Full Moon look so much bigger when it rises on the horizon?

Answer: The Moon is always the same size, it just looks bigger on the horizon because of how your eyes perceive it in relation to foreground objects (like trees and houses).  The Moon doesn't get smaller as it moves higher into the sky, that's just an optical illusion.

2. Question: What causes a lunar eclipse?

Answer: When the Earth's shadow is cast upon the Full Moon (when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon). 

3. Question: What causes a solar eclipse?

Answer: When the New Moon's shadow is cast upon the Earth (when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth).    

4. Question: Do we always see the same side of the moon?

Answer: Yes, because the Moon rotates on it's own axis in the same amount of time it takes to orbit the Earth (approximately 29.5 days).

5. Question: Why does the Moon sometimes look yellow or orange?

Answer: This is a two part answer.  First, is because of the particles of dust, pollution and smoke in the atmosphere.  Second, is because of the length of atmoshpere you have to look through to see the Moon.  So, when the Moon is on the horizon, you look through about 3 times more atmosphere than when the Moon is high in the sky (so when the Moon is on the horizon, you are looking at it through 3 times as many particles of dust, pollution and smoke, making it look more yellow or orange than white).  It's also interesting to note here that the "Harvest Moon" (which is a darker orange color) looks more orange because of all the extra dust particles throw into the atmosphere during crop harvesting.



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