Ultraviolet Earth from the Moon
Here's a switch: the above picture is of the
Earth taken from a lunar observatory!
This false color picture shows how the
Earth glows in
ultraviolet (UV) light.
UV light is so blue humans can't see it.
Very little
UV light is transmitted through the
Earth's atmosphere but what sunlight does make it
through can cause a sunburn.
The Far UV Camera / Spectrograph deployed and left
on the Moon by the crew of
Apollo 16 took
the above picture.
The part of the Earth facing the
Sun reflects much UV light,
but perhaps more interesting is the side facing
away from the Sun.
Here bands of UV emission are also apparent.
These
bands are the result of
aurorae and are caused by
charged particles expelled by the Sun.