Moon Over Australia

IF you've noticed the moon has looked more spectacular than usual this week, you'd be right. Sort of.

It's called the moon illusion and occurs when the full moon appears close to the horizon, making it look larger than normal. "It's not really bigger but our brain tells us that it looks bigger," Dr Nick Lomb, curator of astronomy at the Powerhouse Museum's Sydney Observatory, said. "It rises at different times depending on what the phase of the moon is. A full moon rises around sunset so people notice it more. They may see it when they are driving home from work. It's a convenient time in the evening. Later on when it reaches last quarter then it rises around midnight. It's still in the sky in the morning and people are quite often surprised they notice the moon in the sky."

The impressive moon isn't the only thing getting astronomers excited.

This month four of the five planets visible to the naked eye can be seen.

"It's a very good time to look at the sky," Dr Lomb said. "We have had quite a number of interesting close approaches between the planets in the western sky. There are three planets visible in the western sky each evening, which is very interesting to see. Mercury is still visible, Venus is very bright and so is Mars."

Next year is the International Year of Astronomy, and Dr Lomb said there would be lots of activities encouraging people to look to the sky.