What's happening to the Moon? Drifting around the Earth in 2006 July, astronauts from the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] (ISS) captured a crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] floating far beyond the horizon. The captured above image [ http://eobadmin.gsf…] is interesting because part of the Moon appears blue [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and because part of the moon appears missing. Both effects are created by the Earth's atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.…]. Air molecules [ http://en.wikipedia…] more efficiently scatter increasingly blue light, making the clear day sky blue [ http://math.ucr.edu…] for ground observers, and the horizon blue for astronauts. Besides reflecting sunlight, these atmospheric molecules [ http://en.wikipedia…] also deflect moonlight, making the lower part of the moon appear to fade away. As one looks higher in the photograph [ http://eol.jsc.nasa…], the increasingly thin atmosphere appears to fade to black [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
Explanation
What's happening to the Moon? Drifting around the Earth in 2006 July, astronauts from the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] (ISS) captured a crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] floating far beyond the horizon. The captured above image [ http://eobadmin.gsf…] is interesting because part of the Moon appears blue [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and because part of the moon appears missing. Both effects are created by the Earth's atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.…]. Air molecules [ http://en.wikipedia…] more efficiently scatter increasingly blue light, making the clear day sky blue [ http://math.ucr.edu…] for ground observers, and the horizon blue for astronauts. Besides reflecting sunlight, these atmospheric molecules [ http://en.wikipedia…] also deflect moonlight, making the lower part of the moon appear to fade away. As one looks higher in the photograph [ http://eol.jsc.nasa…], the increasingly thin atmosphere appears to fade to black [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
