A full color Moon

Originally shared by Pierre Markuse

A full color Moon

In this absolutely outstanding image taken by Dylan O'Donnell using a Celestron 9.25″ Edge HD telescope and a Canon 70D you can see a 58% Moon in color.

Colors indicator for chemical differences

The image has been processed to enhance the natural hue differences of the lunar surface, those differences are corresponding to real differences in the chemical makeup of the lunar soil.

The exact colors you end up with depend on the way you take the image, not every camera has the same sensitivity to every wavelength. In the case of the Moon you can expect the darker maria to have a stronger blue hue because of titanium dioxide in the lunar soil. Areas with less titanium and iron have stronger purple and reddish hues. Lithium appears in a greenish tint.

The slight bluish tint on the right side of the Moon (which is not illuminated by direct sunlight) however is caused by Earthshine (https://goo.gl/WQhWOF). Sunlight reflected by Earth's surface illuminating the Moon. The bluish color of this light is caused by Earth's oceans and their blue hue.

Read more on the image and how it was taken here in Dylan's post:
http://deography.com/58-moon-in-full-colour-with-earthshine/

And if you get the impression that the Moon is upside down in this image, then you're probably living in the northern hemisphere, unlike Dylan, who is from Australia and gets to see the Moon like this. Take a look at this image here, taken by another talented astronomer, Russell Bateman, to see a colorful Moon from the northern hemisphere perspective:
https://plus.google.com/+PierreMarkuse/posts/1F1VR3QbT8r 

More information on the color of the Moon here:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060216.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap020316.html

More on the geology of the Moon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Moon

Global Star Party

Dylan O'Donnell is one of the many talented astronomers participating in the Global Star Party (Global Star Party Live) . The Global Star Party is a weekly hangout with talk about astronomy and live views of objects in space. Should you be interested in astronomy take a look here:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/GlobalStarPartyLive
Twitter: https://twitter.com/globalstarparty
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/globalstarparty/

Image credit: Full colour Moon Dylan O'Donnell  http://goo.gl/KzDEVJ

If you like this photograph then you can find more of Dylan's work here at: http://deography.com/

My Astronomy/Astrophysics collection recently surpassed 160,000 followers, I would have never expected that much interest, thanks to all of you! If you haven't already, maybe also try my Space/Space Technology collection here https://goo.gl/5KP0wx , or circle me Pierre Markuse to get all of my posts which usually are science-related.

#science #astronomy #moon #lunarphotography   #space #solarsystem   #lunargeology   #earthshine   #planetshine