The Sun and the Moon

[maxi1968]

light

its because the light that reflects off the moon is a different wave length.

I was out walking my dog and came upon a wierd question (as i usualy do whilst wating for the dog to drop a chocolate hostage)

The sun emmits white light.
This travels across our solar system and gets refracted off our atmosphere which slightly elongates its wavelength causing it to look yellow.

At the horizon it has to travel through more atmosphere which exagerates the elongation causing it to appear more red during sunrise and sunset.
Or so says my physics teacher several years ago.

The problem is it was at night so there wasnt much in the way of sunlight, there was however a nice crescent moon for the dog to squat down under.

The moon doesnt emit any light, its just a ball of rock that reflects sunlight.
But unlike the sun ive never seen a yellow or red moon (except during a lunar eclipse when things go all "pink floyd.")

My question is why the hell not? i mean its exactly the same light yeah? so why doesnt the atmosphere bend it also?

[firemouth]

its because the light that reflects off the moon is a different wave length.

surly its the way light reflects/refracts and absorbs off the partials in the atmosphere of the earth. Air is not blue, but the sky sure looks that way.

[Krypton]

surly its the way light reflects/refracts and absorbs off the partials in the atmosphere of the earth. Air is not blue, but the sky sure looks that way.

agreed. and don't call me shirley
on a seriuos note, chroma, just because you havent seen a blue, red or yellow moon, does not mean that these phenomena do not exist...

lo!

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod_e/image/0407/bluemoon_icstars_big.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod_e/ap040731.html&usg=__Y4ROeIEOinz6NbvuQVxQtiu8lRA=&h=480&w=640&sz=25&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=9wX8dhKL6Q3x9M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblue%2Bmoon%2Bnasa%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/apod/image/0509/RedFlash_seip_f.jpg&imgrefurl=http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/apod/ap050922.html&usg=___iuHJg6lDo-bIyqoKZh7V0-Yxnk=&h=1054&w=1500&sz=359&hl=en&start=31&tbnid=lOyTab-lnZ0kvM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dred%2Bmoon%2Bnasa%2Bastronomy%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.quietwaterastronomy.com/Yellow%2520Moon%2520web.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.quietwaterastronomy.com/yellowmoon.htm&usg=__XQQ-qAk0X8t0lxziX1npUFVoT_Q=&h=802&w=864&sz=288&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=lMZ1l35t8bhvhM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=145&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyellow%2Bmoon%2Bnasa%2Bastronomy%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

no fakes, proper photos and all that

[Dreamer]

from wikipedia

A blue moon is a full moon that is irregularly timed according to some calendars. Most years have twelve full moons which occur approximately monthly, but in addition to those twelve full lunar cycles each calendar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days. The extra days accumulate, so that every two or three years there is an extra full moon (this happens every 2.71722874 years). The extra moon is called a "blue moon." Different definitions place the "extra" moon at different times. Recent popular usage defines a blue moon as the second full moon in a month.[1]

The term "blue moon" is commonly used metaphorically to describe the rarity of an event, as in the saying "once in a blue moon."

[firemouth]

from wikipedia

A blue moon is a full moon that is irregularly timed according to some calendars. Most years have twelve full moons which occur approximately monthly, but in addition to those twelve full lunar cycles each calendar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days. The extra days accumulate, so that every two or three years there is an extra full moon (this happens every 2.71722874 years). The extra moon is called a "blue moon." Different definitions place the "extra" moon at different times. Recent popular usage defines a blue moon as the second full moon in a month.[1]

The term "blue moon" is commonly used metaphorically to describe the rarity of an event, as in the saying "once in a blue moon."

however blue moon are, far, more often caused by, atmospheric disturbances. the sighting i mentioned was in the late 70's. at the time there were huge forest fires, somewhere in the USA, this sent smoke and debris, hight, into the atmosphere. the result was that the moon was blue.
crimson moon, more often seen in northern reaches (though not always). at some times, sunset and moon rise coincide, result? crimson moon. same with "pink" snow. sunset and a snow shower/storm = pink snow, or more correctly, snow the looks pink as it falls. all the above are caused by, conditions, in earth's atmosphere. as far as i remember, the moon reflects 20% (or there abouts) of the light that hits it. but it reflects all the visible spectrum.

[Dreamer]

however blue moon are, far, more often caused by, atmospheric disturbances

I'm not disputing the colouration of the moon you mention and it is rather interesting but It is pure speculation to say that is far more often caused by, atmospheric disturbances. Where are you're figures to prove this?

although both are called blue moons they are infact completely seperate occurances and the blue moon I referred to did not apply to colouration but duration as you are aware. I was simply giving you a different take on the whole blue moon business.

[firemouth]

I'm not disputing the colouration of the moon you mention and it is rather interesting but It is pure speculation to say that is far more often caused by, atmospheric disturbances. Where are you're figures to prove this?

although both are called blue moons they are infact completely seperate occurances and the blue moon I referred to did not apply to colouration but duration as you are aware. I was simply giving you a different take on the whole blue moon business.

quite so, however containments and atmospheric disturbances, happen more often than cosmological occurrences that produce your blue moon. as the thread was on Why colours are not seen, descriptions of effects that cause these colour changes seemed more apt!