At the time of the full moon, the visible side of the moon is flooded with sunlight and the craters no longer cast any visible shadows. Only on the western edge do the craters still appear three-dimensional because the image was taken approx. 18 hours before the exact date of the full moon. Therefore, the ray systems of the craters “Copernicus” (west of the center) and “Tycho” (in the south) can be seen best at this moon phase. Note this one ray from Tycho, which runs in a northerly direction and almost centrally through the “Mare Serenitatis” in the form of a meridian.
The brightest of the larger craters “Aristarch” can be seen towards the western edge at about 9 o'clock. The high albedo (reflectivity) is due to its comparatively young age, so that the exposed lunar rock has not been able to darken for so long due to space weathering. The average albedo of the moon is only around 7%, making it just as dark gray as lava rock (basalt). The fact that we perceive it as so bright is solely due to the contrast with the night-black sky.
Even if the moon appears uniformly grey/white/yellow or whatever, there are mineralogical color differences that can be enhanced by image processing, as was done here. Bluish areas are an indication of titanium compounds, while brownish areas indicate iron compounds (rust).
Hardware: TS-Optics Photoline 80 mm f/6 FPL53 Triplet-Apo · Canon EOS 90D
Software:
AutoStakkert!4 ·
GIMP 3 ·
ART
