(no subject)

[arethinn]

How come the moon is so often described and depicted as being yellow? Aside from lunar eclispses and a few occasions of strange crap being in the atmosphere (and on those occasions it was orange or red, not yellow, as I recall), I've really never seen it be anything other than a bluish white.

Comments

[skatche.livejournal.com]

I find that as it rises the moon tends to pass through a continuum of colours - orange to yellow to pale gold to silvery blue. When it sets it goes through the same progression in reverse. The effect is more striking when the moon is fuller. Try watching moonrise and/or moonset nightly for a few months.

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

I can't; I live in a valley. The hill ridges mean that local moonrise and moonset are after and before astronomical ones, respectively, and that the moon has passed through the true "horizon" angle by the time I'm able to see it.

Here nor there, I meant when it is referred to in poetry or song or art as being *high overhead* and yet yellow, which is something I cannot recall ever seeing.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

I've seen yellow about as often as bluish white. It's more frequent now that I live in town rather than out in a burb.

[ninth-myth.livejournal.com]

atmospheric characteristics and your surrounding lighting will make a difference.
at least where i am the moon is usually a kind of pale creamy colour, either sand-ish or like pale 'old gold', yellower towards the horizon and more a warm silvery higher up.
we get a lot of dust and smoke in the air at different times of the year and i live in a huge basin between two mountain/elevated areas so this whole area of the state is known for strong inversions which trap smog etc and can really make the moon look kind of honey coloured even.

[amberite.livejournal.com]

I've definitely seen it yellow from time to time. Generally looks really sort of ... large and tattered when it is. I'm not sure exactly what causes the effect.

[heartssdesire.livejournal.com]

Well, it often looks yellow when it's near the horizon even in clear conditions. I've seen it look a sort of pale gold color lots of times. Then when it gets high in the sky it loses the yellow cast.