Why does the moon look larger when it's on the horizon?

This photograph freezes the exact moment of dawn when the full moon disappears behind the mountains, casting a serene and ethereal light over the landscape. Nature's quiet spectacle unfolds as the moon bids its silent farewell against the backdrop of the waking world.

When a full moon peeks just above the horizon, it appears enormous. This is a curious phenomenon, as when it is at this position, the moon is the furthest away from us and so should appear about slightly smaller than when it is at its zenith.

"You actually have to look across the distance of the Earth, so [the moon is] one Earth radius further away than when it's directly overhead," Susanna Kohler, an astronomer and spokesperson for the American Astronomical Society, told Live Science.