The astonishingly detailed photo of the Moon is the result of tireless efforts by two American astrophotographers.
For millennia, humans have looked up at the sky and observed the Moon in various ways. However, we may have never seen the Moon in such a panoramic and detailed manner.
Stunningly detailed photo of the Moon. (Photo: Getty).
The image, with a resolution of 174 megapixels, is the culmination of two years of dedicated work by Andrew McCarthy and Connor Matherne, two American astrophotographers. To create this piece, they combined over 200,000 individual high-resolution photos.
All the images were captured by McCarthy and Matherne Connor in just one evening, aimed at achieving the highest realism without external distortions. The duo then spent about nine months editing and compiling their work to produce the final product.
The image reveals each crater and surface texture of the Moon with astonishing detail. While the predominant color of the Moon remains a yellowish-white, it is also tinged with shades of reddish-orange and metallic blue.
Surface texture of the Moon and its vividly recreated color patches.
According to McCarthy, the red patches are due to oxidized iron and feldspar, which occurs when the Moon receives stray oxygen atoms from Earth. The large blue-black spots are actually craters of varying sizes formed by impacts from celestial bodies.
This image also shows part of the largest dark spot on the Moon, commonly referred to as the “Ocean of Storms.” It was formed from a massive collision between the Moon and a meteorite, leaving behind a region known as the “Mare Imbrium” that spans over 3,000 km.
Although this may be a very different image from what we see from Earth, McCarthy asserts that “technically”, these are the true colors of the Moon.
He further explains that the reason we do not see the Moon this way with the naked eye is that our eyes are not sensitive enough to observe it under bright light. Therefore, the two astrophotographers enhanced the saturation of the image significantly, making it more visually appealing to the human eye.
It is no coincidence that McCarthy and Matherne Connor chose to release this image now. Just three days later, on August 29, NASA will officially launch the Artemis-1 mission, which includes an uncrewed test flight of the Space Launch System towards the Moon.
This marks the first step in humanity’s journey back to the Moon after over half a century.
On his personal Twitter page, McCarthy posted: “This image is a ‘love letter’ to the upcoming Artemis-1 mission. This is the first journey to the Moon for humans in 50 years.”
It is worth noting that the last time astronauts set foot on the Moon was during the Apollo 17 mission, conducted by NASA in 1972. While the previous Apollo program was limited to white male astronauts, Artemis will, for the first time, include female and astronauts of color.
