Why does the moon shine so brightly on a full moon night?!?

Question

I kno that it doesnt burn, so it cant have light.
I also kno that it is a reflection off the sun, but i can see 80 acres in a full moon light......
Somebody help me.....

Answer 1

The material on the Moon's surface, called the regolith, has similar properties to the paint used for lettering on highway signs. It tends to reflect more light directly back towards the light source than in other directions. You can see this clearly in photographs taken by the Apollo astronauts of their shadows: the light around them seems to glow more brightly.

At Full Moon, the sunlight is falling on the Moon from directly behind us, so the reflectivity of the regolith is at maximum. This is also why even the edges of the Full Moon seem brightly lit. Other planets show light falloff towards the edges.

Answer 2

It has to do with the fact that the sunlight reflecting off of the moon when it is full is more direct. We see pretty much no shadowing at all so it shines brighter than normal.

The same phenomenon can be experienced here on Earth but it is tough to do. If you look down at a textured surface, the area that is directly opposite the sun in the sky will appear brighter, but the problem is your head will cast a shadow on that spot so you won't actually see it.

On a textured surface, small bumps and valleys create tiny areas of shadow when in sunlight. This combines with the light area to create the overall brightness that we see. But if you look at the surface at an angle directly parallel with the light source, you don't see these shadows, only the fully illuminated areas so it appears brighter in that spot. On Earth, the shadow of our head will block that area when we try to look at it, but the moon doesn't have that problem.

Answer 3

Because the sun when comes exact behind the moon - the moon goes bright - It reflects with its full swing this is only because of Sun - Otherwise the moon does not have any light. All claims of ether half moon or full moon are the reflection of sun lights which feeds moon.

Answer 4

The moon reflects the light from the sun.
With the earth 'out of the way' the closer the earth is to the moon the more light reaches us (the intensity of light diminishes with the square of the distance - So that light from an object at 10 feet is 1/4th the intensity of light at 5 feet.)

So.. on months when the moon is closer to the earth (and the sun is closer also) you get really bright lite from the big huge moon.

Answer 5

On the full moon light, the moon and earth are in such a favorable orientation that we see all the surface of the moon that is exposed to the sunlight. Thus the intensity is maximum on that day (if the atmosphere is not too dusty).

Answer 6

1. We see over 50% of the Moon's surface.
2. It is reflecting the Sun's light.

Isn't that obvious?

.

Answer 7

Well, with a name like yours, I imagine the seething animosity you must have for yourself.

You answered your own question, but you "drove right past it" like it wasn't even there.

Wikipedia "Moon". I haven't the heart to tell you how stupid you are here.

Answer 8

light from the sum reflects off it