the two colours of the moon...

[jedidia]

I was wondering lately... When watching shots of the the moon or hanging around it in Orbiter, there seem to be two colours predominant on the surface: One dark, a bit greenish gray, and one light gray. The dark colour seems to be dominant on lower places, while lighter seems to be dominant in most other regions.

Why is that? I thought the whole surface is covered by dust anyways.

 

[SiberianTiger]

I was wondering lately... When watching shots of the the moon or hanging around it in Orbiter, there seem to be two colours predominant on the surface: One dark, a bit greenish gray, and one light gray. The dark colour seems to be dominant on lower places, while lighter seems to be dominant in most other regions.

Why is that? I thought the whole surface is covered by dust anyways.

Please read about Lunar maria. The difference in colour is caused by different rock composition.

 

[jedidia]

thanks alot

 

[Messierhunter]

The moon is actually quite colorful, just very subtle. Different minerals on the moon cast slightly different colors, so when you drastically (but carefully) increase the saturation of a lunar image's color data you can actually see the different compositions of different areas. Here's an example taken by another amateur astronomer:
http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/ColorMoonLPOD.jpg

 

[cjp]

http://www.lpod.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/ColorMoonLPOD.jpg

Wow.
You can find details here.
Another picture here.

Interesting to see that one of the poles is mostly blue, while the other one is mostly red. I hope this isn't caused by looking through the atmosphere (e.g. when the moon is close to the horizon)?

 

[Andy44]

Astronauts reported many diferent colors, including some orange soil. To this day Apollo crews still argue about the "true" color of the moon. Different lighting conditions and surrounding materials make for different perception of colors.

 

[jedidia]

It's moments like these I realize that we only have grayscale pictures of the surface up close... We GOT to send some people up again, and if it's only for taking some nice, high-res color-pics!

 

[Eagle]

It's moments like these I realize that we only have grayscale pictures of the surface up close... We GOT to send some people up again, and if it's only for taking some nice, high-res color-pics!

Seconded, the next manned mission needs to either have an IMAX camera or a HD film industry quality camera. In fact, take a few of each.

 

[Agra Barecasco]

meteorites

If the moon is colorful because of the materials on it's surface, it's quite possible since the moon itself has been bombarded by so many kinds of meteorite, pouring moon surface by their material..

 

[Suzy]

I notice in some ISS/Shuttle photos from orbit that the Moon appears brownish, while in others it is silver-grey - is this due to the angle the light is reflected?