The moon basically appears white in the sky, so why is it so much darker close up?

Question

Hmm, what I meant was it appears white (ish) from Earth, day or night, but dark grey from the surface, ie in pix from probes and astronauts.

Answer 1

This is because when the phase of the moon is not full but partial, there is a dividing line between the sunrise and sunset on the moon called the terminator. This is the line where the sun hits the surface of the moon and casts shadows which become very apparent through a telescope. This makes observing the moon in a partial phase preferable to the full phase in examining features of the moon.

Answer 2

The Moon only appears white in the sky because we usually observe it from a dark location on the surface of the planet Earth while it's located in a dark sky. When we see the Moon in the daytime sky, it takes on its real subdued tone.

Answer 3

Darker close up...what do you mean?
The moon is 240,000 miles away (give or take), so "close up" means you'd have to be in Earth orbit to be closer.

If you mean when you look at the moon through a telescope, it is still very bright. But some telescopes capture less light than our eyes do (they can see farther but there is less intrinsic light entering the scope), so it could appear dimmer in a telescope.