Saturday, January 11

The dark side of the moon is turquoise, say astronomers

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/10/dark-side-moon-turquoise-astronomers?CMP=ema_632

Measurements from a telescope in Hawaii mean that pedants may now argue that, technically speaking, if one wanted to be entirely accurate, the side of the moon referred to in Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon should really be described as "turquoise".

The dark side of the moon is not the same as the far side, which gets as much sunlight as the side facing us.  The dark side is not lit directly by sunlight, but by light reflected from Earth.  It is much fainter, and best seen around the time of the new moon.

"This is sunshine that struck the Earth, was coloured by the Earth, was reflected up to the moon, struck the moon, and then came back to us."