Universe - The Earth seen from the Moon

978-3-14-100890-6 | Page 10 | Ill. 2
Universe | The Earth seen from the Moon |  | Karte 10/2

Overview

These pictures have been taken during the Moon landings between 1969 and 1972. Since then, no man has set his foot on the Moon again.

The blue marble

Observed from the grey and black lunar surface, the Earth stands out clearly from black space, which is due to the lack of a lunar atmosphere. Due to its predominantly water-covered surface, the Earth appears as a "blue planet" because the water absorbs the long-wave radiation of the white sunlight considerably more strongly than the short-wave radiation. The latter therefore has a considerably greater chance of being scattered out of the water again.

Men on the Moon

The small images on the right show astronauts of the Apollo 15 mission in August 1971 stepping on the Moon or exploring it with a moon car.

Appearance of the Earth's atmosphere

The clouds of the atmosphere scatter the Sunlight: Since the water droplets of the clouds - unlike the small molecules of the air - are considerably larger than the wavelength of light, they scatter all wavelengths of sunlight equally strongly. The clouds are therefore white, while the Sunlight scattered by the air in our daytime sky appears blue on the ground. The appearance of the continents is determined by their surface texture.