We're used to seeing the Moon in shades of gray, but this composite photo, created from images taken by the Galileo spacecraft, presents a vibrant mix of red, orange and blue hues. This colorization of the images is not just for aesthetic purposes. These unusual colors allow scientists to study the types of materials found on the Moon's surface. Red-colored regions often represent the Moon's mountainous regions, while blue and orange hues indicate mare, or lunar seas, where ancient volcanic lava flows are present. The bluer mare regions contain more titanium than the orange ones. The dark blue region on the right is Mare Tranquillitatis, which contains more titanium than Mare Serenitatis (the smaller circular region in the upper left). The small purple areas near the center are deposits left by explosive volcanic eruptions.

The solid-state imaging system on the Galileo spacecraft captured 15 images of the Moon using three different color filters as it passed through the Earth-Moon system on December 8, 1992. The spacecraft was 262,000 miles (425,000 kilometers) from the Moon and 43,000 miles (69,000 kilometers) from Earth when these images were taken. Galileo continued with its main mission, studying Jupiter. It orbited the planet for nearly eight years, making close passes of all of Jupiter's major moons, and completed its mission on September 21, 2003, when it deliberately crashed into Jupiter.

While this image may not give you the pleasure of a bubble bath, contemplating the tranquility of its colors can be just as relaxing.

Image description:

The moon is agitated with shades of red, blue and orange. The top is orange, the bottom is red and the middle is blue. The edges of each area are jagged and some colored parts surround others. To the right of the center is a very vivid blue area. The lowest part of the Moon is missing in this composite image.

 

Credit: NASA/JPL