• Question: why is the moon a none luminous light

    Asked by isobelcox to Arlene, Colin, David, Eugene, Paul on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Colin Johnston

      Colin Johnston answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Pick up a rock and look at it. OK. Now take the rock into a pitch dark room and look at it. You won’t be able to see it.

      What have we learned? 1)Rocks don’t give off any light of their own. 2) If there is a light source, light reflects off the rock and we can see it.

      Why is this relevant? The Moon is essentially a big rock, so it won’t give off any light of its own. Luckily there is a huge light source out there in space, it’s called the Sun. Without it the Moon would be invisible.

    • Photo: Paul Higgins

      Paul Higgins answered on 18 Nov 2012:

      The moon just is not hot enough to give off any visible light. However, it is warm enough to give off radio waves.

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