For sure it's real. I saw the moon rise in the west too. One afternoon in August a few years ago; when the radio dj said watch the sky at sunset for a beautiful phenomena, I went to the beach at Orient Point (Long Island NY) for a looky. It's one of those long peninsula/odd agle places by the Atlantic where seeing the sunset on the ocean is possible. Others were there too and - WOW - when the sun sank low to meet the blue horizon... a neon moon of a color beyond description rose simultaneous direct to the left (south) of the orange ball and so there were two "suns" side by side at the edge of the world for a moment outside of logical time.
Maybe it was a little scary, ya know. Thankfully some nice knowledgeable locals with telescopes came prepared and passed around cups and champagne; and then it was almost too much fun when two did a demo with a large ball & a smaller ball illustrating the reason for the rare phenomena. To do it yourself let the small (moon) ball make continuous counter=clockwise orbits from all points of the compass around the large (earth) ball (in a pattern of the NASA atom logo). It's then actually possible to understand how the rising moon can seem to reverse its orbital direction and subjective origin. Also - first the shenanigans then the numbers, if you will - look up the most extreme degrees of positions and angles of the sun and moon (azimuth) at sunset or sunrise to notice the rare convergences, for cause and effect predictions.
Anyway, to end such an evening of moon enrapturement early was out of the question. So I took a ferry boat ride to Connecticut and back to keep comfortably watching it on deck with supper and a drink. That night the moon made a rapid passage, and by the time the boat returned It was already gone from the sky. Unforgettable beautiful night.
Joan (The Babysitting Grandma Online Here)