In reality what color is the moon? I keep seeing the black and whites but I know it's always depicted as yellow. Can someone help make sense of this for me?
2007-07-29 04:15:00 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Most pictures from the moon were in color, and they depict the moon as being void of most color except for grey dust.
Any picture taken of the moon from earth will be skewed, as there are numerous layers of light, cloud, hemispheres that the picture has received light through to form a visual representation.
Most of the moon is different shades of grey dust with shadows.
Go to your desktop, right click, select "properties", select the "desktop" tab, and look for the "Radiance" picture that is preloaded with XP. Thats a great picture of the moon as it was taken from space, without all of the "filters" of the Earth.
2007-07-29 04:19:49 · answer #1 · answered by Vol 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's true color is a very dark gray, almost black. There's also lots of tiny beads of glass in the lunar soil, and like the paint on roadsigns, it reflects the sunlight very effectively at full moon because the Sun and moon are on opposite sides of the Earth, with the beholder on the night side of our planet. The incoming sunlight bounced off the glass towards the source, and at full moon we happen to be facing the moon from the same direction the Sun does. This effect is called the opposition effect. The yellow, orange and even red color of the moon is the result of our atmosphere scattering and absorbing the shorter wavelengths while letting yellow, orange and red light through.
2007-07-29 14:22:23 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you were on the moon, the color would appear just grey, devoid of color.
Viewed from Earth, the moon color changes due to our atmosphere. Usually white, yellow, orange, sometimes a hint of blue.
If you want to get more technical, color of light can be expressed in terms of K (Kelvin). The scale is based on the physics of the color of light emitted by an object when heated to a high temperature (think of a hot iron object glowing red in a fire).
The examples below are copied from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature
1700 K: Match flame
1850 K: Candle
2800 K: Tungsten lamp (incandescent lightbulb)
3350 K: Studio "CP" light
3400 K: Studio lamps, photofloods, etc...
4100 K: Moonlight
5000 K: Daylight
5500 K: Average daylight, electronic flash (can vary between manufacturers)
5770 K: Effective sun temperature
6420 K: Xenon arc lamp
6500 K: Daylight°
9300 K: TV screen (analog)
2007-07-29 11:33:13 · answer #3 · answered by R_Crumb_Rocks 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The moon is gray. The colors are from gases in the Earth's atmosphere over your area and the yellow of the sun.
2007-07-29 12:51:26 · answer #4 · answered by Lexy R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is almost black. it just seems grey due to the sunlight. yellow also would be from the sunlight (remember the sun is a yellow star). most of the pictures from the moon are actually color pics, but everything seems black and white.
2007-07-29 14:25:03 · answer #5 · answered by Tim C 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The moon is a gray rock. The sun reflects off of it making it look yellow.
2007-07-29 11:18:24 · answer #6 · answered by Joseph F 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
if u actually go in the moon, the real color is gray. but from earth, the color is black or glowing white.
2007-07-29 12:22:03 · answer #7 · answered by Zero 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
most of the moons surface is made up of glass that came from billions of years of galactic bombardment which is why it is so bright.it reflects most of the sunlight the hits it.ive seen some of the samples brought back from the lunar landings and it sparkles like ground glass but its almost a talcum powder consistency.
2007-07-29 11:34:01 · answer #8 · answered by #1 NFL FAN 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/moon/gal_moon_color.jpg
2007-07-29 11:17:54 · answer #9 · answered by lancaster17602 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm pretty sure white.
2007-07-29 11:17:28 · answer #10 · answered by Yvette 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋