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Science Light of Elune, Help Me Understand Moonlight
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TSfaceless
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 Jan 17 2011, 03:14 PM, updated 15y ago
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Before the days of science, people believe that the moon emits light. When astronauts traveled to the moon they testified that the moon does not emit light.
Scientist came up with the idea the moon is merely reflecting the light from the sun. Can anyone tell me which silly goat came up with this idea?
The theory contradicts itself and yet we can accept it. If the moon reflects light then it would had been seen as emitting light. Shine a torch into your eyes and it would be too much light for you. Even if this light is reflected into your eyes by a mirror it has the same effect.
I am also surprise astronauts accepted this theory. They had approached the moon and saw that it was lightless. It was not like approaching a mirror with a light beam shinning on it. What I cannot understand is as you approach the moon you can see that it does not emit any light. Here on the surface of earth you can see moon light. Those who are good in science please enlighten me. Thanks.
This post has been edited by faceless: Jan 17 2011, 03:15 PM
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TSfaceless
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Jan 18 2011, 03:34 PM
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Thanks Befitozi and Dkk for the explanation of the word "reflect" from a science perspective. Mgjg your links on reflectivity and emissivity had been helpful. I am still not clear on this subject. I think the intensity of the light from the moon is very high to be visible on earth. The light from a two battery torch light is of no comparison. It had made me wonder why astronauts were not glared by the moonlight.
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TSfaceless
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Jan 19 2011, 03:07 PM
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Thanks Slimey,
As I understand from the link, albedo is measure from 0 to 1. The closer to 1 to more reflective the object is. It had lead me to conclude that the lower the albedo the less reflective the object is when you are close to it. As in the case of the moon. When we are near it, we dont even see it reflecting the sunlight. On earth, a great distance away, it had reflect the sun light very well. Moon light can illuminate the night so there is no total darkness at night. It does so for half the globe regardless of full moon or half moon.
If my conclusion correct?
This post has been edited by faceless: Jan 19 2011, 03:08 PM
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TSfaceless
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Jan 21 2011, 10:44 AM
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QUOTE(dkk @ Jan 19 2011, 10:13 PM) The moon's albedo is 0.12. The earth's albedo is 0.3. If you think the moon seems bright from here, the earth looks even brighter when you're standing on the moon. Add to that the fact that the earth is much larger, it throws a lot more reflected sunlight on to the moon, than the other way around. The moon only seems so bright because the sky around it is dark. Actually it's not all that bright. I can think of two ways to demonstrate this. 1) Find a street light near your house. Walk around until you see the moon in the sky near where the light appears to you. You would see that the light is much much brighter than the moon 2) Look into a torch light while you are in a dark room at night. The torch light seems very bright. Wait 12 hours until the sun is up. Go out. Turn on the torch light and look at it again. It would seem very dim. Okay, moonlight is not bright. It still does not explain moonlight ability to illuminate the night. Have you experience night of total darkness. I had camp out in the wild often and I never experience total darkness. |
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TSfaceless
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Jan 21 2011, 11:42 AM
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If that is the case Mgjg, then there is no night. We had so many stars out there.
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TSfaceless
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Jan 21 2011, 02:37 PM
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Seagate,
The moon is closer enough and yet it does not glare when you approach it?
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