Wonderchirp
日本語

Why does the moon follow our car?

この動画の日本語版

For grown-ups: the science

The moon is so very far away that even when our car drives along, it barely looks like it moved at all.

The moon is about 380,000 kilometers away, so driving even a few miles barely changes the angle we see it from, called parallax. Nearby things like poles and houses have a much bigger parallax, so they seem to zoom past quickly as the car moves.

What about...?

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Transcript

When our car drives fast, the moon seems to move right along with us. Why does that happen?

Nearby telephone poles and houses zoom past really fast when the car moves. Things close to us seem to change place a whole lot.

The moon is way, way up in the far-off sky. Even when the car drives a long way, the moon barely seems to change its spot.

That's why the moon looks like it stays in the same place outside the window. It feels just like the moon is following along with us.

The moon is so far away that its place in the sky barely seems to change.