The Moon's surface is covered by pulverized rock called regolith. This regolith has two primary compositions depending on the underlying rocks. In the dark areas, the regolith is pulverized basalt, a very dark rock. In the light areas, the regolith is pulverized anorthosite, a generally light colored rock. This is why the lighter areas apear white.
(The surface rocks have been pulverized by the nearly continuous bombardment of micrometeorites (among other sized objects) over the past 3.5 to 4 billion years.)
The sun's light at night reflects off the moon and on the the Earth. The moon is, in this aspect, like a dim mirror, allowing us to see some of the light from the sun that has bounced off of the moon. As shown in this picture,you can see the rest of the circle as a much darker colour. This is called "Earthshine", because it is light reflecting off of the moon, onto the Earth and back again.
(The surface rocks have been pulverized by the nearly continuous bombardment of micrometeorites (among other sized objects) over the past 3.5 to 4 billion years.)
The sun's light at night reflects off the moon and on the the Earth. The moon is, in this aspect, like a dim mirror, allowing us to see some of the light from the sun that has bounced off of the moon. As shown in this picture,you can see the rest of the circle as a much darker colour. This is called "Earthshine", because it is light reflecting off of the moon, onto the Earth and back again.
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| This is called "Earthshine", because it is light reflecting off of the moon, onto the Earth and back again |
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