我们的月亮比你想象的更丰富多彩

Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy, who last year dropped jaws with a stunningly clear composite photo of the moon made up of 50,000 exposures, is back with a more colorful take on our closest celestial neighbor.

天体摄影师安德鲁·麦卡锡去年拍摄了一张令人惊叹的清晰合成的月球照片，由5万张曝光量组成，带着对我们最近的天体邻居的更丰富多彩的看法回来了。

A wide shot of the moon in all its colorful glory as captured from more than 100,000 photographs. (Photo: Andrew McCarthy/@Cosmic_background)

This time, McCarthy composed his first lunar image of 2020 with a blend of around 100,000 exposures taken from his backyard in Sacramento, California. "[This] allowed me to sharpen the image and overcome some of the fuzzing caused by our turbulent atmosphere," he wrote on Instagram.

这一次，麦卡锡在他位于加州萨克拉门托的后院用10万张曝光照片合成了他的第一张2020年月球图像。他在Instagram上写道:“(这)让我能够锐化图像，克服我们动荡的氛围带来的一些模糊感。”

A closeup of the moon's variation in regolith color. (Photo: Andrew McCarthy/@Cosmic_background)

As McCarthy explains, the colors in these images are real and caused by variations in the composition of the lunar soil or regolith. Formed over billions of years by constant meteorite impacts, lunar soil is estimated by scientists to extend from 3-4 meters (13 feet) to more than 15 meters (50 feet) in the older highlands down to bedrock.

麦卡锡解释说，这些图像中的颜色是真实的，是由月球土壤或风化层组成的变化造成的。据科学家估计，月球土壤是在数十亿年的时间里由不断的陨石撞击形成的，在古老的高地上，从3-4米(13英尺)一直延伸到15米(50英尺)多，一直延伸到基岩。

According to McCarthy, shots like this one — when the moon is in its first quarter phase — are the best way to show crater detail. (Photo: Andrew McCarthy/@Cosmic_background)

Besides hints of blue and green, the lunar soil also contains orange hues. During the Apollo 17 mission to the moon, astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were surprised to discover orange soil lurking just beneath the thin veneer of white.

除了蓝色和绿色的暗示，月球土壤还含有橙色的色调。在阿波罗17号执行登月任务期间，宇航员吉恩·塞尔南和哈里森·施密特惊讶地发现，在薄薄的白色表层下隐藏着橙色的土壤。

"Oh, hey! Wait a minute... there is orange soil! It's all over! I stirred it up with my feet!," exclaimed Schmitt to Mission Control. Upon further examination, the orange color was found to be volcanic glass, ejected some 3-4 billion years earlier during a lunar eruption.

“哦,嘿!等一下…那里有橙色的土壤!一切都结束了!我用脚把它搅了起来!施密特对地面指挥中心喊道。进一步的研究发现，橙色是火山玻璃，大约在30亿到40亿年前的一次月球喷发中喷出。

A composite shot of January 2020's full Wolf Moon as captured by Andrew McCarthy. (Photo: Andrew McCarthy/@Cosmic_background)

As McCarthy says, these colors from Earth would be easier to pick out if our eyes were just a bit more sensitive. Nonetheless, their presence is a beautiful reminder that the moon is a lot more complex and colorful that we otherwise might think.

正如麦卡锡所说，如果我们的眼睛稍微敏感一点，这些来自地球的颜色就会更容易识别。尽管如此，它们的存在是一个美丽的提醒，提醒我们月球比我们想象的要复杂得多，色彩丰富得多。

"I find the color really helps tell the story of how some of these features formed billions of years ago," he adds.

他补充道:“我发现这种颜色确实有助于解释这些特征在数十亿年前是如何形成的。”