ELi5: why does it seem like the whole sky is walking with an individual?

Question

ELi5: why does it seem like the whole sky is walking with an individual?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

It’s an effect called “parallax,” where the close things seem to move faster than the far things.

You see this when traveling in cars, where the poles or fences next to you zip by, but those in the distance creep past. The objects on the horizon seem to move very little for a long time. The moon, sun, and stars, may seem to not move at all, except by orbital shifting.

The sky is very far away, in every direction, and unless it’s moving fast, such as clouds in the wind, it doesn’t seem to move at all.

Edit: fixed broken autocorrect