APOD: 2026 November 1 – Colors of the Moon

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. Explanation:What color is the Moon? It depends on the night -- and the time. Outside of theEarth's atmosphere, thedark Moon, which shines by reflected sunlight, appears amagnificently brown-tinged gray. Thefeatured imagehighlights a collection of apparent colors of the full moon on Earth, documented by one astrophotographer over 10 years fromdifferent locationsacrossItaly. Ared- oryellow-colored moon usually indicates a moon seennear the horizon. There, some of the blue light has been scattered away by a long path through theEarth's atmosphere, sometimes laden with fine dust. Ablue-colored moonis more rare and can indicate an atmosphere carrying largerdust particles. What created the purple moon isunclear-- it may be a combination of several effects. The last image captures the totallunar eclipseof 2018 July -- where the moon, inEarth's shadow, appeared a faint red -- due to lightrefractedthrough air around the Earth.Have youever seen an unusually colorful Moon?Tomorrow's picture:open space