# Does everyone on Earth see the Moon the same way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980 "2014-07-25T00:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/21 "2014-07-25T17:07:56Z")
I understand that within the polar "circles, " much of the time the moon is not visible at all. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/22 "2014-07-25T20:16:00Z")
Seems likely. On the other hand, during the Arctic night I suppose it could be visible for days at a time. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/23 "2014-07-25T21:42:13Z")
Cecil speaks: [Why does the moon look different near the equator?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1872/why-does-the-moon-look-different-near-the-equator) Also, I had an Australian friend who, when he visited me, said the moon was upside-down where I was. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/24 "2014-07-25T22:01:05Z")
I’m such a blockhead that I had to draw myself a [picture](http://i.imgur.com/udOqfKI.jpg) to visualize this. It only made sense to me when I realized that, duh, it’s not the moon that’s upside down when I’m in the southern hemisphere, it’s _me_. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/25 "2014-07-25T22:07:41Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I don’t think that the dark side was ever an allusion to that side always being in shadow, but rather to it being unknown or unexplored. So the term wasn’t being used incorrectly - it’s just an outmoded definition of the word “Dark”. Not that outmoded - what do you mean by the “dark web” or “dark pool” trading? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/26 "2014-07-25T23:01:46Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I don’t think that the dark side was ever an allusion to that side always being in shadow, but rather to it being unknown or unexplored. So the term wasn’t being used incorrectly - it’s just an outmoded definition of the word “Dark”. But “dark side of the Moon” literally means the dark side of the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/27 "2014-07-26T02:49:05Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > I’m such a blockhead that I had to draw myself a [picture](http://i.imgur.com/udOqfKI.jpg) to visualize this. It only made sense to me when I realized that, duh, it’s not the moon that’s upside down when I’m in the southern hemisphere, it’s _me_. This makes it crystal clear. Thanks. Although you’d think someone who can travel from Mars to Earth would be advanced enough to already know this… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/28 "2014-07-26T02:56:34Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > I’m such a blockhead that I had to draw myself a [picture](http://i.imgur.com/udOqfKI.jpg) to visualize this. It only made sense to me when I realized that, duh, it’s not the moon that’s upside down when I’m in the southern hemisphere, it’s _me_. And this is proof positive of my long contention that everyone and everything in the southern hemisphere is upside down. You’d think they’d get dizzy after a while, but apparently they’re used to it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/29 "2014-07-26T04:00:27Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > It’s funny you would say that. I thought it was only Asian culture that saw a [rabbit on the moon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit). > [@](#): > > In East Asia, it is seen pounding in a mortar and pestle, but the contents of the mortar differ among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folklore. In Chinese folklore, it is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang’e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her; but in Japanese and Korean versions, it is pounding the ingredients for rice cake. Those Asians sure are silly. I mean, it’s \*obviously \*playing the bongos. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/30 "2014-07-26T04:15:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **mandala** : > > I have heard anecdotes that a small minority of people see the lunar “Ponzo illusion” in a very different manner. To them, the moon on the horizon appears subjectively “farther away” (unlike for the majority, who see it larger at the horizon than overhead). Don’t ask me to explain it, though. That’s the same effect, seen the same way. To elaborate: Most people think of the sky as shaped like a dome or inverted bowl. The only semi-regular structures we ever see in the sky are clouds, which are pretty low down: Clouds near the horizon are much further away than clouds directly overhead. Thus, we think of the dome of the sky as a whole as being much wider than it is tall, and correspondingly, of celestial objects near the horizon as being much further away than those directly overhead. Our brains naturally correct for this effect. But the Moon always presents the same angular size to us, so when the brain “corrects” for the “different distance”, it assumes that the Moon on the horizon (which is far away) must be larger than the Moon directly overhead (which is close). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980/31 "2014-07-26T04:33:42Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > And this is proof positive of my long contention that everyone and everything in the southern hemisphere is upside down. It is. In the same way all rivers run south, and earth is a time cube. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-everyone-on-earth-see-the-moon-the-same-way/693980.md?page=1)