Minerals of Our Moon

The minerals of the regolith on our moon are on proud display in this software-enhanced image. This image was captured using over 150,000 individual photos with my backyard telescope, which gave me enough data to reveal the moon's incredible history. Each splash of color tells a story, from recent impacts to ancient lava flows, things that are ordinarily invisible to your eyes are revealed. Note how impacts produce fresh splashes of color, or where large splashes of color reveal the minerals in the hardened basaltic lava that once flowed on the surface. The orange areas are rich with minerals like Iron and Feldspar, while the blues show rich titanium.