Mineral Moon by SpaceCrew

Adventurers of deep space... Today the focus of our post is on that celestial body which has been observed by all of us throughout history: our dear friend the Moon!

Not a simple moon as we imagine it. In fact, you should know that its surface is not quite as white and grey as we are used to seeing it... In reality, it is nothing more than a huge palette of colours wandering through the cosmos... The only flaw is that our eyes cannot see it...

In fact, its pigmentation is only captured by the sensors of the cameras, and only comes out after a very long process.

SpaceCrew in particular, after several unsuccessful attempts, has managed to photograph those hidden colours that our eyes refuse to see.

Obviously the photo is not as perfect as those you might see on the internet but it gives us an approximate idea of what the lunar surface actually looks like.

The processing of the photo, as mentioned above, was very complex and articulated until it was taken. As you know by now, all our photos are taken with the Skywatcher 150 mm telescope and all with the use of a huawei phone.

Programs such as pipp, autostakkert and registrax were used for processing. The last in particular was used for colour balancing, a key procedure in bringing out the colouring of the lunar surface.

For the colours a program similar to photoshop was used gradually varying the intensity of saturation and contrast.

But now let's take a moment to study these very particular colours that the moon takes on.

-Bluish colouring

At first glance, one's gaze will certainly fall on the large blue spot more or less at the centre of our satellite...

Studying the colours that the various materials emit when illuminated by the sun we discover that this bluish colour is nothing more than a large deposit of basaltic rocks. Focusing on this particular type of rock we find that it is rich in iron and has a high titanium content.

The lighter parts on the far side of the moon (above the large basalt deposit) are nothing more than the same type of rock but with a lower concentration of titanium.

-Pinkish colouring

Another colour that stands out when looking at it is definitely the orange (tending to red) colouration on the left of the picture.

It covers the entire Sea of Serenity and represents basaltic rocks with a high iron content.

The darker colours, on the other hand, represent rocks of a magmatic type and the lighter ones (yellowish) signify an ancient soil deposit with a low content of both iron and titanium.

-Whitish colouring

White is certainly the dominant colour of our dear friend the moon. It forms a large part of its surface, mainly at the south lunar pole near the Tycho crater.

However, studying the component of that soil we discover with surprise the presence of various different materials.

In detail, this particular type of rock is composed of calcium, aluminium, oxygen and silicon.

In short, a great palette of colours that no one can see but which actually form the surface of our dear satellite.

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If you want to find out more interesting facts, here is another post you might like:

- The Andromeda galaxy: a guide to observation and curiosities

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