The Moon's far side looks red in new Chang'e 4 images

[Ross M]

I stumbled upon this blog article on the web. It covers my interests in both space exploration and photography and I thought I would share here.

In summary: The Chinese Space Agency's Chang'e 4 lander sent back images of the far side of the moon in which the lunar soil appears red. The mission priority is exploration, rather than the production of accurately coloured images. So, unlike previous US missions, there was no colour calibration target used. The blogger, David Rothery, has processed the colour channels of the raw images.



Here is the link:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2019/change-4-red-images.html

[ameerat42]

But even so I suppose they'd have worked out a reasonable WB to apply to the raw images.


...And now to something I just hayte!: referring to the far side of the moon as
"the dark side of the moon" in many of the regurgitated, popularised, down-dumbed
(to abyssal depths - even abysmal) "news" reports that no editor had bothered to
correct or even to put into context. - Wait, I lie! On one news report they did,
saying that it is sometimes also called the dark side and even explaining that it is
in fact not dark. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Ross M]

But even so I suppose they'd have worked out a reasonable WB to apply to the raw images.


...And now to something I just hayte!: referring to the far side of the moon as
"the dark side of the moon" in many of the regurgitated, popularised, down-dumbed
(to abyssal depths - even abysmal) "news" reports that no editor had bothered to
correct or even to put into context. - Wait, I lie! On one news report they did,
saying that it is sometimes also called the dark side and even explaining that it is
in fact not dark. :rolleyes::rolleyes:


I sympathise with your frustration. This misconception is now topical doe to the current the Chinese lunar mission being in the news.

Inspired by the media coverage, I've just played some tracks form one of my all time favorite albums, Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon". Then I put a post on Facebook with the following thought:

"Hypothetical: If Queen's Brian May had written the lyrics to Pink Floyd's song "Brain Damage", would the album have instead been called "The Far Side of the Moon"? You know, because he is a qualified astrophysicist and would have been more pedantic and argued that there is not technically a dark side of the moon."

Upon further thought, Dark Side of the Moon is a better album title than far side of the moon, because the album's subject matter is a little bit dark in terms of content. I also doubt that there was much popular debate about this stuff in 1973.

[ameerat42]

By all means in a literary/emotional/dramatic sense I am :)with the term, but not when it
is presented to purport to be "science" :(

[Colin B]

This is certainly an amazing achievement for the Chinese and a shot across the bows for any "capitalist" nation which thinks it has a technological edge over them.

I remember a history teacher back when I was in High School reminding us that the Chinese were using rockets in warfare while most Western nations were still stuck at bows and arrows.

[ricktas]

The issue is that you are all assuming dark.. means night/black etc.

Going dark.. means going out of range, or non-contactable. The dark web.. is not black, it is just part of the web that major search engines, either block or cannot access. So basically in this context dark means 'hidden'.

The dark side of the moon is the side hidden from view..from Earth. :D

[Gazza]

Here's a simple (un-verified) explanation from a few years ago :url: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJvSzJphgT8)

[ameerat42]

So-o-o... the dark side of the moon is all hear/say/music/song/and (no doubt some) dance...:umm::cool:

I suppose now you can add some Chinese Whispers to that :p:p

Anyway, lucky for us earthlings, we're always looking on the bright side :D

[Ross M]

The issue is that you are all assuming dark.. means night/black etc.

Going dark.. means going out of range, or non-contactable. The dark web.. is not black, it is just part of the web that major search engines, either block or cannot access. So basically in this context dark means 'hidden'.

The dark side of the moon is the side hidden from view..from Earth. :D

That's a good analogy to explain the subtleties.

[Dan05]

The issue is that you are all assuming dark.. means night/black etc.

Going dark.. means going out of range, or non-contactable. The dark web.. is not black, it is just part of the web that major search engines, either block or cannot access. So basically in this context dark means 'hidden'.

The dark side of the moon is the side hidden from view..from Earth. :D

I’m assuming dark refers to radio silence as there arnt satellites to bounce signals back to earth from the far side.

The sun shines on the back end so it isn’t dark as in who turned out the lights so dark to me refers to the radio silence from the Apollo crews when on the far side.


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[Mark L]

The dark side of the moon is the side hidden from view..from Earth. :D

Ricks got it here.
And because it's hidden from Earth there's now way of communicating close images from there back to Earth. The moon just gets in the way.
So the Chinese have done a really basic thing. In order to get these images they have send them to a satellite positioned that can relay them back to Earth.
Of cause quality of photos as discussed will be effected by lack of light. But we get to see the photos.
What does all this stuff cost?

[arthurking83]

The issue is that you are all assuming dark.. means night/black etc.

Going dark.. means going out of range, or non-contactable. The dark web.. is not black, it is just part of the web that major search engines, either block or cannot access. So basically in this context dark means 'hidden'.

The dark side of the moon is the side hidden from view..from Earth. :D

What!?!? ... you mean ... no wifi?
How can that be? Wifi is everywhere! :p

I don't ever expect my son to want to travel there.
No wifi ... no interest. :rolleyes:

[Ross M]

What!?!? ... you mean ... no wifi?
How can that be? Wifi is everywhere! :p

I don't ever expect my son to want to travel there.
No wifi ... no interest. :rolleyes:

On the other hand, milleniels now believe that the far side of the moon exists because someone took a selfie there!

[landyvlad]

, I've just played some tracks form one of my all time favorite albums, Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon". Then I put a post on Facebook with the following thought:

"Hypothetical: If Queen's Brian May had written the lyrics to Pink Floyd's song "Brain Damage", would the album have instead been called "The Far Side of the Moon"? You know, because he is a qualified astrophysicist and would have been more pedantic and argued that there is not technically a dark side of the moon."

Upon further thought, Dark Side of the Moon is a better album title than far side of the moon, because the album's subject matter is a little bit dark in terms of content. I also doubt that there was much popular debate about this stuff in 1973.

Brilliant !


As for the red colour - anyone with any sense knows that's from the abundance of Nazi flags down there.
If you don't believe me just watch the documentary ;) "Iron Sky (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034314/)"