Tag Archives: WHY DOES THE MOON FOLLOW US WHEN WE DRIVE?

33.WHY DOES THE MOON FOLLOW US WHEN WE DRIVE?

The moon doesn’t look as if it’s very far away, but its distance from the earth averages 239,000 miles. The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles, or less than the distance across the United States. But when the moon is observed with a very large telescope, it looks as if it were only about 200 miles away.

Because the moon seems so close and big to us, we sometimes forget that 239,000 miles is quite a distance away. It is this great distance that explains why the moon seems to follow us when we drive in a vehicle and look up at it.