Colour of the Moon

Although the Moon appears grey to us, there are some subtle hues due to various mineral composition of the lunar rocks and soil. Colour-enhanced images of the Moon show this clearly.
www.colormoon.pt.to...
www.rc-astro.com...

There is no conspiracy to keep this secret from the public, there's even a NASA article on the colour of the Moon!
www.nasa.gov...

And of course you only have to do a Google search to bring up a list of articles with photos and explanations (along with a few "OMG! the government is lying to us!" conspiracy sites).

Actually, you can see some very slight colouration just looking through binoculars or telescope. I use binoculars, and I can see some dark blue in the maria (the dark regions on the Moon), and perhaps just a hint of yellow or orange in the lighter parts of the maria and some highlands.

Have any of you seen any colour when looking at the Moon?

When I looked up tonight, the moon looked White. Yesterday, it was supposed to be Blue, didn't look Blue at all. But, after viewing the moon picture of the second link, it totally looks like colors of Earth? That can't be possible. Looks pretty, but weird looking at the same time.

Originally posted by Manhater
When I looked up tonight, the moon looked White. Yesterday, it was supposed to be Blue, didn't look Blue at all. But, after viewing the moon picture of the second link, it totally looks like colors of Earth? That can't be possible. Looks pretty, but weird looking at the same time.

Why can't it be possible? the moon is made up of mostly the Earth, ok it doesn't have as much water as the earth but the mineral composition is pretty much the same..

Moon formation

Originally posted by Manhater
When I looked up tonight, the moon looked White. Yesterday, it was supposed to be Blue, didn't look Blue at all. But, after viewing the moon picture of the second link, it totally looks like colors of Earth? That can't be possible. Looks pretty, but weird looking at the same time.

This is what a blue moon means its not about colour

A blue moon can refer to the fourth full moon in a season with four full moons

Originally posted by Majestic RNA

Originally posted by Manhater
When I looked up tonight, the moon looked White. Yesterday, it was supposed to be Blue, didn't look Blue at all. But, after viewing the moon picture of the second link, it totally looks like colors of Earth? That can't be possible. Looks pretty, but weird looking at the same time.

Why can't it be possible? the moon is made up of mostly the Earth, ok it doesn't have as much water as the earth but the mineral composition is pretty much the same..

Moon formation

If you read the info below the picture of the Moon

In this photograph, the color saturation has been enhanced to bring out the differences in the colors of the various areas of the surface. The hues are correct, just much more vivid than we usually see them.

Your eyes and cameras dont work in exactly the same way, when we look at the moon we are see the TRUE colour according to what our eyes can see.

ElevenAugust covered this topic quite well (with lovely embedded photo's!) not too far back, HERE but it is a very interesting topic.

Color enhanced photos are just that, color enhanced. In other words, they do not show how the moon actually appears with the naked eye.

Generally when we say "real color" we mean what it would look like with the naked eye.

The color photos use some technology to pick up the wavelengths of certain minerals, and then artificially color them so that you can differentiate between the various materials being looked at/for. That doesn't mean the moon is actually red, or green, or blue.

I've seen the Moon via an extremely powerful telescope at one of those astronomy meeting things that most big cities have. It's gray. Many shades of gray, but it's still just gray.

I always laugh when people talk about the conspiracy to hide the real color of the moon or mars. I know you aren't saying it's a coverup or anything, I was just mentioning it heh. Those people are so silly, they really have no idea what they are talking about as far as what they are looking at.

Originally posted by wmd_2008

Originally posted by Majestic RNA

Originally posted by Manhater
When I looked up tonight, the moon looked White. Yesterday, it was supposed to be Blue, didn't look Blue at all. But, after viewing the moon picture of the second link, it totally looks like colors of Earth? That can't be possible. Looks pretty, but weird looking at the same time.

Why can't it be possible? the moon is made up of mostly the Earth, ok it doesn't have as much water as the earth but the mineral composition is pretty much the same..

Moon formation

If you read the info below the picture of the Moon

In this photograph, the color saturation has been enhanced to bring out the differences in the colors of the various areas of the surface. The hues are correct, just much more vivid than we usually see them.

Your eyes and cameras dont work in exactly the same way, when we look at the moon we are see the TRUE colour according to what our eyes can see.

Yes I know, I'm very much aware of that, when I look at the moon through my telescope I can see very subtle differences in colour, it's hardly noticeable but it's there all the same, what I was trying to say to Manhater is the moon was made from the Earth so that's why it looks like the Earth when the colour of the photo's are enhanced...

Originally posted by James1982
Color enhanced photos are just that, color enhanced. In other words, they do not show how the moon actually appears with the naked eye.

Generally when we say "real color" we mean what it would look like with the naked eye.

The color photos use some technology to pick up the wavelengths of certain minerals, and then artificially color them so that you can differentiate between the various materials being looked at/for. That doesn't mean the moon is actually red, or green, or blue.

I've seen the Moon via an extremely powerful telescope at one of those astronomy meeting things that most big cities have. It's gray. Many shades of gray, but it's still just gray.

I always laugh when people talk about the conspiracy to hide the real color of the moon or mars. I know you aren't saying it's a coverup or anything, I was just mentioning it heh. Those people are so silly, they really have no idea what they are talking about as far as what they are looking at.

Really? just how powerful was the telescope you were using? I can see very subtle shades of colour if I use the averted viewing technique, ok I admit you don't see anything like the enhanced pictures in this thread but if you look close enough, there is colour all be it very minimal.


Averted vision

reply to post by Majestic RNA


I'll admit I'm a total noob when it comes to telescopes, but I know it was a 12" or 12.5" model (reflector size I believe they refer to?) and pretty damn expensive judging by how protective over it the guy was. It was the biggest telescope I've ever seen (not saying much though heh) This was at OMSI here in Portland, OR several years back.

There may be slight color variations here and there. But that's like picking up a brown rock with a few tiny spots of slightly different color, I think most people would still just call it a brown rock Or a gray moon in this case.

A 12" scope is a fairly good size for an amateur astronomer, if it was a computer controlled one like mine (called "go to" scopes) they can be very pricy, hence why the guy was protective of it, and yes I get what you are saying about the rock thing, I suspect if you had a chance to own a scope of this size and use it every night for a week you'd see many shades of colour on the moon in the end.. it's a sight to behold when the moon is full, with the right filters you can really see some amazing detail..

This has been posted before

www.abovetopsecret.com...

search is your friend.

I'd like to know what the Moon would look like through a telescope from the International Space Station, or maybe from one of their new HD external video cameras. For some reason, they just won't show it.

Originally posted by James1982
Color enhanced photos are just that, color enhanced. In other words, they do not show how the moon actually appears with the naked eye.

Generally when we say "real color" we mean what it would look like with the naked eye.

The color photos use some technology to pick up the wavelengths of certain minerals, and then artificially color them so that you can differentiate between the various materials being looked at/for. That doesn't mean the moon is actually red, or green, or blue.

I've seen the Moon via an extremely powerful telescope at one of those astronomy meeting things that most big cities have. It's gray. Many shades of gray, but it's still just gray.

As me and other people testified here, you can actually see some subtle colour on the Moon. It's not completely and utterly colourless. The enhanced imaged enhance the real colours. Using false colours with specific filters is a totally different technique.

The Moon we see from Earth is not what we would see from orbital altitudes, but as there are no pictures of the Moon taken from orbit, not counting the ones taken with a crescent Earth in view, as those still rely on Earths atmosphere. And hows about a picture of the Moon, taken from orbit, showing Earthshine, as we see it from Earth? Find me that picture, and I'll eat my hat.

The last time I clicked on a link to a color-enhanced photo of the Moon I ended up getting a Blaster Worm virus that really messed up my hard drive. No thanks.