Coloured Moon

smerral · Post by **smerral** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:21 pm

Luna in all her coloured glory.....

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:03 am

That is a nice detailed picture.
I am not sure if I have noted colours on the Moon

Regards, David

smerral · Post by **smerral** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 12:43 pm

Hi David,

Naturally that pic is enhanced by turning the saturation up; however subtle shades of colour do exist on the moon and if it were brighter (or our colour vision were more sensitive) we would see them. That's why I always try to process my images in colour (though in a more subtle way than that full disc shot); otherwise there are subtle shadings that we miss....

Ender Of Days · Post by **Ender Of Days** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 3:22 pm

Nice colour pic,

JJ..

Tim Chamberlain · Post by **Tim Chamberlain** » Sat Apr 16, 2011 10:45 pm

That's a great picture. Interesting to see how dark the Sea of Tranquility is.

I was looking at the Moon tonight with my monocular, there was a slight haze from passing cloud which reduced the glare, and I was thinking: how wonderful the ever changing face of the Moon is ... nice to stumble on your pic so soon afterwards.

Regards, Tim

brian livesey · Post by **brian livesey** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 7:12 am

The colours show differences in the mineral make-up of the lunar surface.

Bissgets · Post by **Bissgets** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:01 pm

my humble attempt at this moon color enhancement ... http://www.astronom.si/galerija/file.php?n=1565&w=o

enhancing color of the moon is actually a fair scientific effort; it shows differences between old highlands, younger maria, very young craters etc. - a much much more detailed photo was taken by galileo on oute to jupiter, showing lunar soil composition: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00132

how to do it @home: http://www.atalaia.org/filipe/moon/colorofthemoon.htm

it's fun and it looks cool

Bissgets · Post by **Bissgets** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:24 pm

and smerral's moon enhanced (again, a humble attempt; someone with more photoshop proficiency should do this ...):

smerral · Post by **smerral** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:00 pm

Yes Bissgets it's interesting and fun, I agree. I even process my close ups in colour now, though I go a bit easier on the saturation to give a more subtle effect. I'm aware of that tutorial you mention - doing this also helped me to discover how to process my images from the Atik Titan colour camera - my first attempt had the colours reversed!
The image from Galileo makes an interesting comparison!

Bissgets · Post by **Bissgets** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:18 pm

of interest are color differences on the border of (younger) mare serenitatis and (older) tranqulitatis; the (again younger) "green" region in the middle (imbrium, cognitum, vaporum, sinus aestii and parts of nubium); different composition of the northern part of mare imbrium - and the darker, "blue" patches in sinus aestium and mare vaporum, that are actually signs of volcanic activity.

fun and interesting - can we wish for more?

smerral · Post by **smerral** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:47 pm

Yes Bissgets that's really interesting. Is there a site somewhere which gives more details of this mineral composition?
Anyhow here's my shot at a bit of enhancement in photoshop (feeling really psychedelic now!

)

David Frydman · Post by **David Frydman** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:52 pm

Very pretty,
David.

Bissgets · Post by **Bissgets** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:29 pm

it seems that the color difference between mare serenitatis and tranquilitatis is due to titanium dioxide, which is much more abundant in mare tranquilitatis. here is a color atlas of the moon, that shows some (crude) data:

http://dikidee.files.wordpress.com/2007 ... al3eng.jpg

smerral · Post by **smerral** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 5:45 pm

Thanks a lot -- that's very helpful.

LeoLion · Post by **LeoLion** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 8:17 pm

This site may be of interest http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/a ... Table.html with a mixture of maps and detail on features , re Lunar Geology.