Jakarta –
The Blue Moon phenomenon has recently appeared in the Indonesian sky. Despite the name ‘Blue Moon’, it appears bright orange on Earth.
In fact, usually the Moon looks like a disc of white, gray, yellow, or orange. So, what color Moon really?
Moon Color: Gray to Green
Ever seen a photo of the surface of the Moon that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on? Quoted from ZME Science, simply put, gray and black are the true colors of the Moon. However, the surface of the Moon also has green, orange, to bluish colors.
The discovery of areas of the moon’s surface that are orange has also been recorded in the words of astronaut Harrison Schmitt, the Apollo 17 crew in 1972. With pleasure, the Lunar Module Pilot shared his findings with Commander Eugene Cernan and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans.
“There is orange soil!” said Schmitt in the final Apollo mission to the Moon. “Orange! I stirred it with my foot.”
Orange lunar soil found on the Apollo 17 mission. Photo: NASA
The color of the Moon is influenced by geological conditions or rocks. The green color appears in regions of the Moon rich in olivine, a magnesium iron silicate mineral that is olive green in color.
The orange color is found in iron-poor areas of the Moon. The yellow-orange color of the Moon emerges from volcanic glass grains. Meanwhile, some bluish tint appears in the titanium-rich areas of the Moon.
The moon also has varying degrees of gray on its surface. Light grays are common in the upland areas of the Moon, while dark grays and blacks are common in floodplains rich in basalt igneous rock.
On the other hand, humans on Earth can see the Moon is bright yellow, orange, reddish, purplish, to white. Apparently, the color of the Moon that the human eye captures on Earth is the color of the Moon when it reflects sunlight.
The color of the moon appears to the surface of the Earth because it reflects light from the sun. About 3 to 12 percent of the sunlight that hits the Moon is reflected.
Differences in the color of the Moon to the human eye are due to optical phenomena in our atmosphere, not from the conditions of the Moon itself. Therefore, you need a good vantage point to know the true color of the Moon. This is because the appearance of the Moon also depends on its position in orbit around the Earth.
Moon Color Variations from Rocks
From Earth, the moon’s dark-light contrast creates a rabbit-like shape. Well, lighter colors indicate the Moon’s highlands, the terrae. While darker colors indicate areas that are generally lowlands, maria.
Plateau rich in calcium has a whiter color. This region consists of anorthosite, a rock composed mostly of the mineral plagioclase feldspar which is rich in calcium.
Region mare (plural: maria) contains darker volcanic rocks. This area is rich in iron, magnesium and basalt. Therefore, this region is also called a basaltic floodplain which gives a black landscape.
But basalt is not always pitch black. Occasionally found olivine deposits in the region maria. Olivine is what gives a faint green color.
In addition, the diverse landscape also affects the appearance of the face Moon. The lunar landscape is characterized by impact craters, several volcanoes, hills, lava flows, and basins.
Often, these features are marked by other rocks called breccias. These rocks are formed from the fragments of other rocks cemented by a fine-grained matrix. As a result, these rocks are not always exposed to the surface. Most of these rocks are covered in dust called regolite with a dark gray color.
Watch the video “Why Do Many Countries Race to the Moon?”
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2023-09-05 02:00:36
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