Luna Not So Gray

We know that through atmospheric lensing the lunar surface changes its hue from the normal gray to anywhere between yellowish to red. But did you know that the Moon isn't actually just gray.

The Moon contains subtle hints of color that is not normally seen by our eyes. Photographic methods can bring out these subtle variations of color. These various hues are a result of the chemical distribution and abundance in the lunar surface. The mare regions or the 'seas' (the darker areas) have lower capacity to reflect light because of higher ferrous oxide (FeO) content. The bluish hues are a result of the abundance of titanium oxide (TiO₂) which further limits the surface reflectivity. TiO₂ has a high distribution in Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility); seen in the photo as the blue region. Orange and purplish hues are a result of the lower abundance of TiO₂ and FeO. The pinkish hues are from iron-poor, aluminum-rich lunar highlands.

Here are some other images of the Moon in exaggerated colors to provide contrast from the common Lunar hue:

 

Here is an image entitled 'The Color of the Moon' from APOD (16 February 2006) by Johannes Schedler (Panther Observatory).

 

Not only do ground based observers try to see these colors but spacecraft as well. Here is another one by the Galileo spacecraft imaged in 1992.

- - - April 20, 2019 - - - For those coming to this blog post in relation to the pink Moon - - -

The Pink Moon is merely a name given by the Native Americans to the Full Moon of April due to it coinciding with the onset of the blooming of the pink phlox (a flower in North America). This name and other Moon names do not apply to the Philippines.

Here is my original post caption to this link being shared:
Alright, allow me to weigh on this from an astronomer's perspective.
Friend's in the local astronomy community have been tackling the pink tinted photos being shared on social media with good reason - they are not real and are reinforcing the wrong notion of people on the 'Pink Moon' (even with all the reference to the Pink Phlox in the Native American Moon names).

The Moon actually has pink hues resulting from iron-poor, aluminum rich lunar highlands (and these ARE NOT visually distinguishable). Highlands are the brighter older areas, while the lowlands are the darker spots on the lunar surface.

In this blog post I made in 2015 you can see the distribution of the pink hues on the lunar surface. Now from these you can tell the difference from all these recent pink-hued Moon pics as they are mostly all pink as a result of camera optics and not of the actual color of the Moon. The lack of other hues from chemical distribution in the lunar surface shows that these photos are not representative of the actual Moon.
I've been imaging the Moon since I was in college until I was teaching astronomy in college and have encountered this pink hued Moon images from certain camera models (depending on the setting). Please do not confuse the image color with the actual color of the Moon.

- - - - - - -

 The image set seen here were taken on May 2010 just minutes from each other with a Canon PowerShot S3IS. Slight changes to the camera produced a pink tint in the image color without any post-processing. Although some images appeared pink they do not signify that the Moon itself appeared pink.

Notice how the low-lands are also pinkish in hue when they shouldn't be.

Solar and Lunar Image

Here is the solar image from today, and the lunar image from last night.

The Sun currently has a low sunspot activity, so observations would be ideal in other wavelengths at the moment rather than in white light. There is a grouping at the center (below solar equator) that currently has no NOAA designation.

Blood Moon 2014

We were initially set-up at Trinoma to have a good view of the moonrise. However, the cloudy skies made us want to call it a night. As we were leaving the Moon began to appear. One jeep ride and a short run after we were able to setup the telescope (thank God its a Dobsonian) and image away. Bible study goers at the UCCP-CHR as well as jeepney drivers joined in as we observed. Here are some of the images I took:

Lunar Observation - 1 April 2014

It has been a while since I have been able to image a thin Waxing Crescent Moon. There was this condominium unit being built beside my old place in Cubao, Quezon City which completely obstructed my Eastern view. Now I have a wider and darker sky here at Proj. 6.

Here are 2 pictures of a roughly 2 day old moon with 3.7% illumination. The first one is taken with a 6" Newtonian reflector, while the second was through a short-tubed 70 mm refractor.

30 - 31 May Lunar Observations

I woke up much later than usual on the morning of May 30. The sky was already of a blue hue and hardly any stars were visible. I was only able to squeeze in a few shots before having to prepare for work.

 The sky was clear on the morning of May 31. I had to setup outside since the Moon was low enough for it to be obstructed by the neighboring houses. I was able to capture a several good close ups of the lunar surface.

29 May 2013 Lunar Observation

The sky was partly cloudy this morning so I wasn't able to get close ups of the lunar surface. I only had a few minutes in a cloud gap.

 

28 May 2013 Lunar Observation

The Moon will be rising much later during the waning phases. Some people are not able to observe the waning phases since you either have to stay up late or rise up early. As an observer, I personally have not been able to complete one straight lunar cycle due to this factor and of course, cloudy weather. This were taken during the early morning of May 28. I suddenly had a drive to image the waning phases of this month's perigee Moon for a project.

May 26, 2013 Lunar Observation

Last night's Moon, a day after the full flower Moon. I used eyepiece projection to get a magnified image of the lunar craters. The Moon this month is in its perigee position, making it closer than it is before.

Moonrise

I took some time with my mom to visit the Silliman Beach in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, to await the Moonrise. The sky finally became favorable allowing me to do some imaging. The site was also very good; the sea to the East and the Silliman farm to the West. I did some long-exposure images of the sky (w/o a tripod) while waiting for the Moon to rise.

Eventually, the Moon's red glow started to illuminate the East. The edge of the horizon was slightly obstructed by the island of Siquijor from a distance. The Moon's red color happens as a result of the refraction of light rays from the Sun by the atmosphere of the Earth in what we call atmospheric lensing. The light is bent into its component colors with red being the dominantly bent among the colors of the spectrum. This same phenomena of refracting light happens during a total lunar eclipse. As the Moon slowly rises into the sky its light will turn orange, yellow, and then white.

Penumbral Eclipse and Apogee Moon

 A comparative scale of the super moon and the smallest full moon of the year.

  Maximum eclipse

Prior to eclipse