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dirtypunk
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why does the moon appear to glow from our view on earth? what causes the illumination?
Kevin_Axion said:Yes the reason it glows is the sun but the cause is because the surface of the Moon has an extremely high albedo (high-reflectivity).
cjameshuff said:The moon has rather low albedo, only reflecting ~14% of the light that hits it...similar to coal.
The moon glows at night because it reflects sunlight from the sun. The moon does not produce its own light, but rather acts as a mirror, reflecting the sunlight that hits its surface.
The phases of the moon are caused by the moon's position relative to the sun and Earth. As the moon orbits around Earth, the amount of sunlight that hits its surface changes, creating different phases such as full moon, new moon, and crescent moon.
No, the amount of glow from the moon can vary depending on its position in its orbit around Earth. When the moon is closer to Earth, it can appear larger and brighter, while when it is further away, it can appear smaller and dimmer.
This is due to the Earth's atmosphere. When the moon is low on the horizon, the light from the moon has to pass through more of the Earth's atmosphere, causing the shorter blue and green wavelengths to scatter and leaving the longer red and orange wavelengths to reach our eyes.
No, the moon needs sunlight to glow. Even during a lunar eclipse when the Earth blocks the sunlight from reaching the moon, the moon appears red due to the sunlight bending and filtering through the Earth's atmosphere.