The color of the Moon is depends on the time of night. The dark Moon, which illuminates by reflected sunlight outside of the Earth's atmosphere when viewed from within the Earth's atmosphere, the moon can appear quite different. And if you live in a heavily polluted city, it will almost certainly see a different tint of the Moon due to the dust particles and other floating items in the environment. The details visible on the Moon are likewise affected by their location.
The color of the Moon changes depending on whether the Sun is high or low in the horizon. It also depends on your vision and your ability to see and interpret colors. If you can view blue as green, you might think the Moon's genuine hue is something different. Gray is the most prevalent hue for the moon. This is due to the fact that when sunlight strikes the moon's surface, it reflects all of the colors equally. Because dust absorbs and scatters sunlight in all directions, it can also cause the moon to appear gray. However, occasionally the conditions are exactly ideal for the moon to appear more colorful. When there is no dust in the atmosphere, for example, blue light from Earth's sky is scattered more than other hues by particles in space it can result a "blue moon."
Pink, green, yellow, and orange are some of the more unusual colors that have been observed. These occur when some sorts of atmospheric circumstances or lunar surfaces reflect more colors than others. The moon's capacity to change hues is one of its most interesting features. While the moon's color remains white in general, it can change depending on its position in regard to the sun and the earth.
Image via WorldlessTech.com
When the moon is low in the sky, atmospheric scattering causes it to seem red or orange. This is because sunlight must travel through more air before reaching our eyes when the moon is closer to the horizon. The longer the passage of sunlight, the more blue light is scattered away, leaving just red and orange light left. A red or yellow moon denotes a moon viewed close to the horizon. Some of the blue light has been dispersed by a long trip through the Earth's atmosphere, which is sometimes packed with fine dust. A blue moon is more uncommon and may suggest that the moon was seen through an atmosphere harboring bigger dust particles. It's unclear what caused the purple moon; it could be a mix of various factors.
If you catch a look of the moon during a total eclipse, you will notice that it has turned a deep crimson color. Because the earth prohibits direct sunlight from reaching the moon, only indirect sunlight shines on it from around our planet's boundaries. This sunlight is filtered twice by the Earth's atmosphere, which filters out all but the longest wavelengths of light.
Written by Zira A.
Reference:
Best Colors Idea. (2022). What Are the Colors of the Moon. [online] Available at: What are the Colors of the Moon (colorsidea.com). [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].
Dyches, B.P. (n.d.). Five Things to Know about the Moon. [online] NASA Solar System Exploration. Available at: Five Things to Know about the Moon – NASA Solar System Exploration [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].
Journal of Cosmology (2022). Different Colors of the Moon Explained [What Color Is the Moon] - Journalofcosmology.com. [online] Available at: Different Colors Of The Moon Explained [What Color Is The Moon] - Journalofcosmology.com [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].
science.nasa.gov. (n.d.). Colors of the Moon | Science Mission Directorate. [online] Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/colors-moon
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