A World Hidden in Gray
Isabel Arias Villaverde
Award: Top 100
School: saint john's preparatory school
Teacher: charles h miller
Category: Natural
Photo #21096
A World Hidden in Gray
When I look up at night, I see a gray silver Moon. Most people think that the Moon is only one color, when in reality colors exist all over its surface. Different regions of the Moon contain different minerals and elements because they were made by volcanic events or asteroid impacts over billions of years. The Dark maria, the dark spots, are lava plains rich in iron and titanium, while the Bright highlands are older crust mainly composed of feldspar rich rock.
Although sunlight appears "white", our eyes have receptors that only see the combination of three different ranges of wavelengths: short wavelengths that stimulate blue, medium ones that stimulate green, and long ones that red, or more known as RGB.
Iron and titanium rich areas absorb more red wavelengths and reflect more blue light, giving the dark areas a subtle bluish or even greenish tint. Feldspar rich highlands reflect light more evenly, creating warmer and more neutral tones.
These colors are difficult to see with the naked eye because human vision relies on rods and cones. Rods detect brightness in low light, while cones detect color in brighter conditions. Since the Moon only reflects sunlight and appears relatively dim from Earth, our rods dominate our vision, making the Moon appear mostly gray instead of colorful.
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