By Concellation on Saturday, 14 September 2024
Category: Fascinating Stuff

The Moona Lisa

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 14

The Moona Lisa
Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Sarcone and Marcella Giulia Pace

Explanation: Only natural colors of the Moon in planet Earth's sky appear in this creative visual presentation. Arranged as pixels in a framed image, the lunar disks were photographed at different times. Their varying hues are ultimately due to reflected sunlight affected by changing atmospheric conditions and the alignment geometry of Moon, Earth, and Sun. Here, the darkest lunar disks are the colors of earthshine. A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight reflected by Earth's oceans illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written over 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci. But stand farther back from your screen or just shift your gaze to the smaller versions of the image. You might also see one of da Vinci's most famous works of art.

Tonight: International Observe the Moon Night
Tomorrow's picture: lunar pronouns < | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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