Celestia Forums

Hi,
Why can't I see the moon(from the earth) or the earth(from the moon) in the correct sizes...they appear as dots. I could identify the normally bright planets like venus and jupiter only with their labels. How can I get a more realistic picture?

All these observations were made when I positioned myself a couple of metres above the objects(moon and earth)

In basic terms the atmosphere magnifies what you see the closer to the horizion the object is...This effect hasnt been placed in Celestia yet...

you may also want to read the Q7/A7 in the User's FAQ:
http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2291

Rassilon wrote:In basic terms the atmosphere magnifies what you see the closer to the horizion the object is...This effect hasnt been placed in Celestia yet...

Rass', although this explanation for the Moon illusion is often mentioned, no such magnification occurs. The apparent size of the Moon, particularly when it's near the horizon, is a very complicated psychosensory illusion about which at least one whole book has been written.
The Moon is the correct size in Celestia, but there's no way a computer screen can reproduce the effect of looking at a very distant object in the outdoors.

Grant