APOD: 2026 November 1 – Colors of the Moon
APOD
APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Colors of the Moon
Explanation: What color is the Moon? It depends on the night -- and the time. Outside of the Earth's atmosphere, the dark Moon, which shines by reflected sunlight, appears a magnificently brown-tinged gray. The featured image highlights a collection of apparent colors of the full moon on Earth, documented by one astrophotographer over 10 years from different locations across Italy. A red- or yellow-colored moon usually indicates a moon seen near the horizon. There, some of the blue light has been scattered away by a long path through the Earth's atmosphere, sometimes laden with fine dust. A blue-colored moon is more rare and can indicate an atmosphere carrying larger dust particles. What created the purple moon is unclear -- it may be a combination of several effects. The last image captures the total lunar eclipse of 2018 July -- where the moon, in Earth's shadow, appeared a faint red -- due to light refracted through air around the Earth. Have you ever seen an unusually colorful Moon?Tomorrow's picture: open space
Date:
November 1, 2026
Credit & Copyright:
Marcella Giulia Pace
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe
A service of:
ASD at NASA / GSFC,NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.
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Source: https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-november-1-colors-of-the-moon/
