Jakarta –
Being one of the celestial bodies that can be seen with the naked eye, what is the actual color of the Moon?
Sometimes the Earth’s satellite can be yellow, white, gray and even red. However, it turns out that these are not the original colors of the Moon.
As you know, the Moon is not a star. Thus, it cannot emit its own light.
Reported by the ZME Science page, Tuesday (21/2/2023), the Moon can appear to shine because it reflects light from the Sun. At least, 3-12% of the sun’s light is reflected so that it can be seen from Earth.
The main reason why the Moon can always change color because of optical phenomena in the Earth’s atmosphere, not the Moon which has color. In other words, the colors seen from Earth are only the colors that appear, not the actual colors.
Moon Color Difference
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) page explains that a red or yellow moon usually indicates a moon that is visible near the horizon. At that point, some of the blue light has been scattered along a long path in Earth’s atmosphere which is full of fine dust.
While the blue moon can indicate the moon is visible through the atmosphere. In the apparition are various larger dust particles.
When the phenomenon of a lunar eclipse occurs, the Moon is in Earth’s shadow and displays a faint red color. The reason is because light is refracted through the air around Earth so that the colors can appear.
Moon Color Determination
After human missions to the Moon such as NASA’s Apollo missions, humans can see the Moon up close. Now, people know that the surface of the Moon consists of various volcanic rocks.
For that, through these rocks the moon can be determined its true color. Sometimes the Moon can appear to be a contrasting color between the whiter and darker areas.
The lighter surface is known to be part of the highlands on the Moon which is commonly called the ‘terrae’ and the darker area is called the ‘maria’.
1. Plateau of the Moon
High-lying areas usually have little iron and are rich in calcium. That’s the reason why that area looks lighter. The dominant rock in this terrae area is called ‘anorthosite’.
Anorthosite is a rock composed of calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar. These rocks can also be found on Earth.
Upland rock can be even whiter than anorthosite which is called pure upland rock. This rock is known to form the Moon’s crust and is extremely rare.
2. Low plains of the Moon
Meanwhile, the maria section contains more basalt, which is a very dark volcanic rock. Basalt is also a fairly common rock found on Earth.
The rock was formed through the rapid cooling of lava and contains magnesium and iron. The color is very dark.
The maria section of the moon is basically the floodplains of basaltic lava that are also found on the surface of Mars. Even so, basalt can be black.
In its natural environment, basalt also contains a mineral called olivine. Olivine is a beautiful green crystal.
As it moves toward the surface, it can take on a greenish hue. For this reason, the Moon sometimes has a faint green tint.
Of course, there are also other rocks on the Moon that can change the color of the scenery. The Moon’s landscape is characterized by impact craters, several volcanoes, hills, lava flows and depressions.
Often, these features are marked by other rocks called breccias. Breccia is basically the name of a rock that is formed from the fragments of other rocks and cemented by a fine-grained matrix.
But as is also often the case on Earth, rocks are not always exposed to the surface. Instead, they can be covered in a dust called regolith.
Not on the moon is loose and heterogeneous. However, in many ways, regolith looks like Earth’s soil, with a dark gray color.
The moon is also sometimes yellow-orange which is caused by the oxidation of iron which is the same process as on Earth. But researchers believe the color is present because of volcanic glass beads.
So What Color is the Moon?
The simple and drab answer is that the Moon is essentially shrouded in various shades of gray when viewed from the very bright uplands to the dark basaltic floodplains.
But if you look at a photo of the Moon and increase the saturation, you’ll see some incredible variations. Such as the presence of a green hue in areas rich in olivine, an orange hue in areas that have little iron, even some bluish tints in areas rich in titanium.
Sometimes, a simple question like ‘what color is the Moon’ actually requires a lot of knowledge. The moon is an interesting thing to watch.
The moon is able to reflect the sun’s rays beautifully. However, remember that the actual colors of the Moon are grey, black, green and orange. But mostly gray and black.
Watch Video “List of Astronomical Phenomena in 2023, There Will Be 4 Eclipses! “
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