Why is the moon yellow

Why does the Moon sometimes appear yellow to us?


Last weekend, evening clearing allowed the full moon on Sunday 9 July to reveal its yellow hue in the sky, a color primarily explained by the absorption of light in the sky.

To see the true colors of the Moon, it would have to be seen directly from space, without affecting the light rays on the screen of Earth’s atmosphere that reach Earth. While photos of the Moon from space show a gray satellite, mostly due to the elements on its surface, it is not unusual for it to be pale or yellowish from the ground.

The scientific reason behind it

What happens is the same thing that plays with the color of the sky.

When they cross the Earth’s atmosphere, the different wavelengths that make up the white color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) emitted from the Sun behave differently.

As a result, the sky becomes blue in color due to the over-dispersion of this color in the layers of the atmosphere.

At sunrise and sunset, when the Sun is on the horizon, radiation must travel a greater distance from the atmosphere than at noon, so that a greater proportion of the warmer colors color the sky.

The observed color variations for the Moon have the same origin as the satellite being illuminated by the Sun during the night and its rays returning to us.

Depending on the humidity of the atmosphere, the degree of pollution and the fluctuating dust, certain wavelengths of the Moon (d at the horizon. Sometimes I see the Moon white and sometimes yellow. Is the Moon really white or yellow?

Does moon changes it’s color ?

Is it true that the moon seems to change color from day to day and you’ve seen it orange by now?! Seriously, you might be disappointed: the moon is gray! But really gray… some say “Dirty Grey”, I’d say “Ash Grey”.

It is the color of the type of dust that covers the entire surface of the Moon and is called regolith, the result of repeated and infinite attacks of cosmic rays on the original stone.

This can be seen in photographs taken on site or in orbit around the Moon, as in the Apollo missions.

The color we see from Earth is actually sunlight reflected from the Moon. It usually appears yellow to us because this is the area where our eyes are most sensitive to sunlight.

But each of us has a different ability to see and interpret colors. So we can feel the nuances in the perception of the color of the moon from person to person: some see it not as yellow, but white, even silver! And you yourself, from one day to the next, may see yourself differently depending on your position in the sky.

This is due to the environment, which acts as a color filter before our eyes. If there is pollution, smoke, dust or just clouds between you and the moon in the air, the moon may be darker, more orange or even red at sunrise or sunset!!

Conversely, when there is a lot of ambient light, such as when viewing the Moon during the day, it appears brighter, even white.

Hope this enlightens you on the subject and takes full advantage of all the colors of the Moon, whose different forms also add to the joy of seeing it often!

Why is the moon sometimes orange?

First of all you should know that the moon is bright because it reflects the light of the sun. This light with different rays of different wavelength is scattered by the molecules and particles in our atmosphere.

The propagation of solar radiation waves through our cloudless environment also has a greater effect on the most energetic parts of the light spectrum, which correspond to the color blue. The presence of these parts in the dispersion is greater than at present.

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