Astronomy

The Moon

Created 2007 May 08 @ 10:00.

Anthony Ayiomamitis writes:

It is almost taken for granted that the Moon is a colourless object and which takes on a wide variety of grayscale shades between white and black. To add insult to injury, many astrophotographers reinforce this false premise by shooting the Moon in grayscale, thus destroying the fine and delicate colour information which does exist if one were to inspect their images more thoroughly.

This image of the apogee Moon from early April 2007 has been processed so as to bring out the salient and delicate colouration which is present in all RGB images of the Moon. I am quite happy with the differential colouration that has been produced and which indicates the differential geology of the lunar surface in a rather dramatic fashion. For example, the blue areas characterize areas rich in titanium (and titanium-oxide) and represents area which would be vital for future communities on the Moon due to the harvesting of the valuable oxygen; areas in orange represent aluminum and iron which is equally significant. Finally, it is also interesting to note that various impact areas are white and colourless owing to the subsurface material which has been ejected onto the lunar surface following impact. The Galileo mission also imaged the Moon in false colour with similar results.

The image was taken on April 3rd, 2007 (01:53:00 UT+3) which coincides with the greatest apogee Moon for 2007. Higher resolution versions, as well as imaging and processing details, are available on my website.

Keywords: Astronomy, astrophotography, gallery, Moon, apogee Moon, colour, false colour