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What color is moonlight and why does it sometimes transform into different colors?

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Summary
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85% Informative

The moon doesn't produce any of its own light, instead reflecting white light from the sun.

Light scattering processes in the Earth 's atmosphere are key to how we perceive the colour of the moon.

The popular definition of a blue moon is when there are two full moons within a calendar month .

Other atmospheric and astronomical phenomena can restrict the wavelengths that reach us.

Victoria Atkinson is a freelance science journalist, specializing in chemistry and its interface with the natural and human-made worlds.

She has a DPhil in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford .

She formerly worked as a science content developer at Oxford , and later as a member of the Chemistry World editorial team.

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90

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92

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54

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informal

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English

Language complexity

50

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long-living

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