When I'm on my bed looking outside the window, the trees in the park which is quite some meters away looks big and closer than the actual distance. But when I get up from my bed and go and see it straight from my window it gets far again. What is the phenomenon? (Could've added an image but my camera quality is quite high and this doesn't support images above 2mb of size) The distance from my bed to my window must be around 14 feet and my room is on the 2nd floor. The distance of those trees from my house must be around 50-54 mts but from my bed it looks more like 20-25 mts. (This also happens when I look at the moon or sun from the bed) (I'm not high)
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1$\begingroup$ Related: physics.stackexchange.com/q/20844/2451 and links therein. $\endgroup$– Qmechanic ♦Commented Dec 15, 2019 at 17:18
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2$\begingroup$ Search term: "moon illusion." $\endgroup$– rob ♦Commented Dec 15, 2019 at 17:34
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Ok, just a guess here as I've not experienced this myself - When you're in bed your field of view of the outside is limited by the window. A few trees in the park may fill this field of view. When you stand by the window, there is now a much wider field of view that the trees are a smaller part of and so appear smaller. It's more psychology than physics as the magnification of the trees on your retina is actually smaller when you are in bed further away.
Just came across this video: The Sydney Opera House Illusion
Start around 0:44 where he also experiences the effect you asked about.
answered Dec 15, 2019 at 17:02