Hello,

On one of my books on the space program, there is the image of Earthrise during Apollo 8, usually associated with the reading of the Book of Genesis. But why in the surface photos does the surface look greyish-white, but in certain orbital photos, the surface is brown? Does that have something to do with the camera and optical conditions?

Cordially,

TimberWolf

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" Whereas other animals hang their heads and look at the ground, he made man erect, bidding him to look up to heaven, and lift his head to the stars. "

Ovid

You mean the surface of the moon or the earth? If it's the moon, it could be the orbiter's windows.

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From what I understand, it has to do primarily with the angle of the sunlight. interestingly, the badlands hereabouts are quite gray for the most part, being comprised of alluvial sediments from the late Cretaceous. But during the summer, when the sun is setting, they have a rich brown coloration. This never happens (at least that I've seen) in the winter, so I can only assume it has to do with the height and angle of the sun as well.

I suspect that nature is full of examples such as this.

Of course, it could also have something to do with the camera filters used by the Apollo astronauts. There are probably a lot of factors.

...John...

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It's not just orbital photos that show a brownish surface, there are plenty of surface photos showing the same colour. Some even show a blueish tint. Had one guy on another forum who claimed that light blue was the real colour of the moon.

I'd have to say optical conditions, lighting, and last but not least, development of the pictures.

Don't have any sources handy (at work), I'm sure someone else has some good references, or knows the answer in detail (Jay?)


edit: fixed quote html error

And what was his explanation for us seeing the moon grey from here? Discolorisation by the earth's atmosphere?

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The ALSJ has a chapter on this subject: Apollo Photography and the Color of the Moon.
It is done by Michael Light, wo extensively worked on the subject while doing his book Full Moon.

Harald

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Never did get a clear answer from him, or don't remember a clear answer at least. I have the page bookmarked at home, I can go back and search the message archive and see if I can find the discussion.

No Need Johnno. I wast just curious, but you don't have to look it up iof you don't recall. I just don't really see how the atmosphere discolorizes the moon.

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Oh the memories... the memories. Yeah I looked up that old forum (yahoo group actually), he was actually claiming that the moon is brown, not blue as I remembered (must've been someone else, because I distinctly remember that claim).

He kept showing a few selected pictures and pointing out how the colours were all wrong in the sim (eagle lander 3d), and that they needed changing. He then started changing the colours himself, never did get finished I think. Grin.

Oh how many times I pwned him, of course he rarely replied....