Blue moons, blood moons and honey moons have all worked their way into fiction and folklore, but the changing hue of our planet's biggest satellite remains rooted in science. The moon doesn't produce any of its own light, instead reflecting white light from the sun. So what color is moonlight and why does it sometimes transform into different colors, at least from Earth's perspective?
The answer has to do with how much of this reflected light reaches us on Earth. Samples taken from the moon reveal it to be principally a light-gray rock called anorthosite, with some darker areas of basalt, said Christine Shupla, science engagement manager at the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
