If you are one of those cosmic lovers who looks up every day to observe its stars, you may have noticed that the Moon does not always have the same color. Transit between different shades, from the brightest to the most opaque or extravagant. But contrary to what might be believed, the different shades that cover its beautiful craters and surface do not depend entirely on it. At least from the position in which we see it from Earth. An astrophotographer has captured Earth’s natural satellite for ten years and has the most colorful moons of any photographer in the world.
What color is the Moon?
The surface of the Moon is grayish in color, we know this thanks to the explorations of the Apollo Mission that NASA carried out from 1961 to 1972. However, like all the surrounding orbs that we know of so far, its surface is not homogeneous. . It is full of craters, valleys, seas and lunar oceans that give it a darker coloration than the rest of the surface. So far we could conclude that the Moon is gray. But, from Earth we can see it in different colors and this is where the interesting part comes in.
The first thing we must understand is that the Moon does not shine by itself, but reflects sunlight that we then see as lunar illumination. In this sense, the coloration of the moon depends on various factors such as atmospheric conditions and its interaction with sunlight. That is, we cannot properly say that the Moon has a specific color seen from Earth. Although we know that its surface is greyish, from our position we can observe moons that range from reddish tones to purple and bluish.
A show about to start
Clouds and airborne particles directly affect the refraction of light. The suspended particles themselves refract part of the sunlight that we see coming from the Moon. It’s like thinking of a big concert where they almost always use smoke chambers so that the particles make the colors reflected by the light cannons travel. Without these smoke particles, the light will appear in different shades and variations. This is the case with the atmosphere, which prepares a cosmic show about to begin.
Currently there are some official systems for recognizing the colors of the Moon. Called the Danjon scale, this measures the luminosity and appearance of the Moon.
The Danjon value scale is measured as follows:
- L=0: Very dark, Moon almost invisible in semi-totality.
- L=1: Dark gray or brownish, few details visible.
- L=2: Reddish or brownish-red with darker central area, very bright outer regions.
- L=3: Brick red, often with a yellowish margin.
- L=4: Orange or coppery, very bright, sometimes with a bluish margin.
A ten-year journey through colors
However, there is a problem with limiting yourself to the Danjon scale and that is that it is mainly intended for the observation of eclipses, where the Moon almost always takes on colors from grayish to reddish. Put aside all those different colors such as blue or purple.
*Credits: Marcella Giulia
For this, recently NASA in collaboration with the Italian astronomer Marcella Guilla, presented an amazing poster. In it you can see all the colors of the Moon that were recorded through photographs for ten years. The result is extremely amazing since there are not only bright moons and conventional colors, but there are also shades of purple, blue and pink.
The Moon can have a specific color, depending on those who visited it and the most powerful space telescopes. But from our planet the Moon can have the color that the conditions decide, which will almost always be different.
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