Vol.

5 1, No, 2, August 1953

Journal of Research of the Na tional Burea u of Standards

Research Paper 2434

Ultraviolet Spectral Radiant Energy Reflected

From the Moon
Ralph Stair and Russell Johnston
R es ults ar e g iven of som e meas ureme nts on t he ultraviolet and s hort-wa velengt ll visi,b le
s ect ral radian t energy reflected from t he surface of the full moon , mad e from Octobe r to
~ rnber 1952 at Wa shington D , C. Although t he reflected lunar spect rum co nta rn s a ll
th~eFraunh orer' bands as found in ?irect sunli ght .wi th approximate ly t he s ame r~e laLr ve
in tens it ies in t he visible spectrum , In tense ab so rp t r ~ n occu r's for so me. of the ult rav iolet
wavelengths. Selecti ve absorp tion for wavele ngths III the spe?tT1!-l reg ron s of 380 to ~9 0
millimi cron s and less t han 360 millimi crons indi cates t he pOSSIbility of a lun ar re flect rn g
s urface s imi la r to t ha t of powde red glassy silicates.

1. Introduction
.
Man has long speculated abo:ut the I1?-0on- lts
orio'in its surface features, and Its path III space.
This interest has stimulated the search for facts
regarding th e exact nature and origin of the surface
panorama visible through th e telescope.
It is, however , generally agreed th at th e lunar
urface features have been sculptured by catatrophic agents (eith er meteoric ~r volcanic, or bo th )
[1 to 10, inclusiveJ.l The resultmg surfaee featm'es
differ greatly from anything on th e ear th , except fo~' a
certain resemblan ee to the few known tel'l'estn~l
meteor crater s. B ecause gr avity on th e moon IS
only about one-sixth th at on th e earth and th er e
is an absence of an atmosphere, th e lunar craters
a re probably 25 to 50 times as large [l1 J as would
resu lt on th e earth.
As the resul t of th e absence of an atmosphere il: nd
moisture and, h en ce, of the usuil:l types of weathermg
a nd erosion the moon has retamed records of many
of its early catastrophic experien ce . D,uring its
history about 16 times as ma:ny m eteontes have
collided with the ear th , but t hOl[' records have been
largely erased [1], unless we conclude . that t h e
encounter s with th e larger ones resulted m som e of
t h e geologic transitions indicated by abrupt changes
between certain layers of the earth 's strata.
The surface of th e moon does change, however.
It is affected b y t h e sun's rays, by gravity, and by
t idal forces by the temperature change from about
250 0 F [1 5 'to 18, inclusive] during the luna:r .day to
about - 150 F during its night , and by attl'ltIOr,t ~ue
to falling m eteorites, estimated abt. over one dmillron
p el' day [2]. These effects com me . to pro u ce a
pulverization of the surfac.e l~yer, whICh acts as the
efficien t insulating surface mdICated by the character
of th e temperature changes on the moon's surface
ob erved during solar eGlipses [1 9].
The black ening of the old surface areas, or " maria",
may b e du e in part to exposure of th e surface ;materials to high frequ ency (short wavelength) radIant
ener gy. Oxygen , ozone, and other components of
the earth 's atmosphere act as a blanket that prevents
t h e ear th from receiving ultraviolet and other solar
radiant en ergy of wavelengths shorter than about
295 mil Laboratory experiments show that many
crystalline and glassy substances 0:r: tJ:.e earth darken
upon exposure to wavelengths wlthm the spectral
I

F igures in brackets indicate the literature references at tbe end of tbis paper.

81

range incident on th e ~oon . l'!le colle~ti~m <?f a

thin layer of fine meteOrIC matenal contammg Iron
and other dark substan ces may b e expected also to
darken t h e lunar surface.
.
The study of t h e moon through m easurem ent of Its
effect upon r eflected sunlight may ~e .appro~ched
from several a ngles: t hrougb changes m mtenslty or
polariza tion [11 to 14,. inclusive] of the. r e.flected
radian t e nerO'y as a functIOn of the angle of lllCldence,
or through ellanges in th e l:eflected sp ectrum . caused
by the lunar sur!aee , ThIS report d.e~ls WIth th e
integrated ultraVIOlet ~p e~tI'al mtensltlCs re~lected
for th e fixed angular .m Clden ces cOl'l'espol"!-dmg to
n ear full moon and WIth th e moon n eal' ItS most
northern posit ion in th e sky ,
. .
.
The observed relative sp ectral dlstl'lbutlOn of
ultraviolet radiant en ergy reflected from the moon is
verv similar in quali ty to tha t emitted b y the s.un
itseH. All the Fraunhofer lines app eal' and WJ th
approximately the sam e relative intensities. A.ny
differences in the two sp ectra resul t from solectlVe
op tical a,bsorption by the lunar .surface. Except ~or
a slight yellowing of th e lun~r.lillage and for var~a
tions in t h e ul traviolet and VISIble sp ectrum over ItS
surfaee fea tures [20], no thi:ng has b een r el?o.rted in
the available literature no tmg any other chfIeren ces
b etween the two sp ectra .

2. Instruments and Procedure

The apparatus employed in this iu-yestiga: tion
consists of a Carl L eiss double quartz-pnsm mnTor
sp ectrometer , using ~n R CA 1~28 pho tomultiplier
as a detector. The lIght b eam IS m~d~lla~ed at. 5] 0
cis, and the ou tput of the pho tomultrplter IS fed mto
a tuned amplifier [21] and recorder. (see fig . 1). A
siderostat was employed for reflectmg ~he beall?- of
li O'ht from the moon in to th e sp ectroradlOmeter m a
~anner similar to that previously u sed with SUlllight [22] .
.
,
N o condensmg lens or mu'l'Ol' was employed , so
that the resultant m easurem en t was that for the
integrated surface of t~e. moon. The spectr~l
en ergy -response .charactel'.lstIC of the complete ll"!-strument mcludmg the sIderostat and photomultlplier, wa~ determined by using a special tungstenfilament-in-quartz lamp [21 , 23], together WIth a
numb ~r of optical filters to r educe the lamp energy
for the various parts of the sp ectrum (see fig. 2) to
values approximating that of the moonbeam at the
speetrometer slit , The radiant energy from the

lamp was reflected into the spectrometer by the

same siderostat mirrors, so that the spectral enel'g~'
calibration for the moonbeam reduced to a simple comparison of the recorder indications in the two cases.
The high sensitivity of the detecting and l'ecording
equipment permitted the use of relatively nanow slit
widths (spectral width approximately 1 m}.! at 310 m}.!
and 2 to 3 m}.! at longer wavelengths) . These values
are comparable to those employed in previous worl.;:
with sunlight [24], so that the Fl'aunhofer structlll'e
of the measured radiant energy in the two cases is
A

SIDEROSTAT

~ - -- ------ -

-~

SPECTROMETER

--- - - ----- -

PHOTO-

T UNED

MULTIPLIER

AMPLIFIER

MOON

II
RECTIFIER
AND
FI LTER

HIGH
VOLTAGE
SUPPLY

SECTOR
DISK

I I
RECORDER\
FICURE

20

b
....

18

,.,

16

1.

Instrumental layout.

o 14

..~'

L AMP

12

x!.M

E 10
~
0:

WW 6

X 10

I-

;2

is

WW 8 X 10

~0~0~~~~~~~~
42~0~~4~60~~5~07
0 ~~5~4~0~~5~eo~
WAV ELENGTH. MILLI MICRONS

2. Spectral energy distribution of the standard lamp

through the filters used in the calibration of the instrument.

FICURE

AIR MASS
90 r-~-.----':--.--"---r-.----,--.-"---r-T 1.00

80

MOON, WASHINGTON , D.C 1952

70

......
60
...aco

."

1.1 0

0:

1. 20

...a

50

1. 30
1. 40
1. 50

::>

... 4 0
0:

<l 30

2.00

0:

:I

20
OCT 29- 30

10
0

PM
7

FIGURE

3;

3.00
4.00

hi

10

\I
12
I
2
3
TI ME OF NIGHT (EST)

Changes in ai1' mass for the ascent and descent of

the moon f or the diffeTent evenings.

quite similar (sec fig. 5), although different spectroradiom eters were employed.
Measurements were made during four nights near
the ends of October and November 1952, when the
moon was near its full phase and also near its maximum northern position, hence near its highest altitude at the latitude of Washington, D . C. The
best data were obtained dlll'ing the night of November 30- D ecember 1, when the moon was not onl.v
nearest its full phase but was also at the highest
altitude for any night during the series of measurements. Also , the atmosphere was entirely free of
clouds and showed least dust or haze scattering on
this night. Data on the lunar altitude and air mass
for the four nights were calculated in the usual
manner by means of the celestial triangle through
the use of the pertinent data published in the
American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac for 1952
for the solar and lunar positions. The resul ting
data are charted in figure 3.

3 . Spectral Radiant Energy Reflected From

the Moon
The spectral radiant energy reflected from the
moon depends upon the optical and other physical
characteristics of the lunar sllrface. Changes in the
solar radiant energy are admittedly small [25] for
all wavelengths penetrating the terrestrial atmosphere. Variations at the moon as a function of time
may be considered insignificant. In view of the
fact that previous observers have found a marked
variation in the light reflected from the moon as a
function of the angles of incidence and reflection
[11, 15], a similar behavior might be expected for the
ultraviolet rays. However, at present the amount
of this effect is unknown. Furthermore, variations
in ultraviolet intensities over the lunar surface are
known to be appreciable [20]. Future studies for
specific areas of the moon and at various angles of
incidence and l'eAection sho uld b e interesting and
informative.
T errestrial atmospheric absorption further modifies the lunar reflected radiant energy. M ean spectral values (for ascend ing and descending moon) for
a lunar altitude of 65 degrees (air mass l.1O) are
given in figure 4. -When s pectral radiant energy
data are taken over a range of ascending (or descending) positions of the moon and plotted logarithmically [24J as a function of airmass and extrapolated
to airmass equals 0, the intercepts represent the
logarithms of the spectral intensities outside the
terrcstrial atmosphere. The data illustrated in
figure 5 were obtained in this manner.
In order to illustrate b etter the similarity between
the spectral radiant en ergy reflected from the moon
as compared with that emitted by t.he sun. the data
obtained for the sun at Climax, Colorado, in Septemb er 1951 , are taken from th e previous publication
[24] and reproduced Ul figure 5. Although these
data were obtained with different spectroradiometers
at different times and places, t h e similarity in the
two curves is strikulg. This is partly b ecause the
dispersions for th e two instruments were not appreciably different. However, slight differences re-

82

210
-

WASHINGTON,O.C., 195Z .

SUN, CLIMAX , COLORAOO

180

MOO N
AIR MA SS I.IO
NO V 30 -0E C I

SEPTEMBER 1"1

:f,lO

MOO N, WA SHINGTON, D.C. _

NOVE MBER 19'2

~.

90

SC ALE RAT IO ' 1/300000

:i

60

;;

30

o
330

3 50

370

390

410

43 0

4 50

4 70

49 0

5 10

4.

3' 0

370

530

WAVELENGTH, MILLI MIC RONS

F I GlJ R ~~

:no

3 10

glo

390
4 10
430
"50
WAVELENGTH , MILLIMICRONS

4 70

4 90

510

530

5. A com pmison between the spectml distribution of

the radiant en eTgy Fom the sun and the Te./lected en el'gy from
the moon.

FLGUlm

Spectral d-istT-ibution of the radiant energy Te./leeted

from the moon.

s uIt in greater sca ttering of th e data plo tted in

figure 6.
An inspection of the lun ar rel ative to th e . solar
radiant en ergy curve (fig. 5) discloses I!reater difl'erences between th e two toward the shorter wavel en gth s. A quantitative plot of thi s ratio (fig. 6)
g ives the relative spectr al reflectivi ty o t the lUl:ar
s urface. Much of th e scatter of t he data, as 111di eated above , res ults from slight differences in the
dispersions of th e two sp ectroradiometers, inasmuch
as a close inspection of th e individual plotted points
C\i closes th at the high er values resul t from ratios bet~\-een peaks on th e cur ves, whereas th e lower values
a rc associated with th e Fraunhofer absorption bands.
Three importan t characteristic of this reflect ivi ty
c urve are worthy of no te. First, th e curve decl'NtSeS
:in ordinate value with wavelength , thus indicat ing
t hat, the lun ar s urface h as a lower ref-te ctivitv for
t he shorter wavelen gths. Second, th e ):land at, 380
to 390 m,u indica tes selective absorption of th e lun ar
surfac e materi als. Third, th e sh arp cuLoff b eg inn.ing
at abo ut 360 m/-! m a.v b e cons idered indicati ve of some
special composition.
If th e thTee sp ecial ch aracterist ics of the lUJl a r
r efl ectivity curve are consider ed in terms of possible
materials present, and ot.he1' Imown factors about
t h e m oon , s uch as its albedo , polar ization, a nd heat
conductivity are k ept in mind , it appears no t unlikely th at a yellowish glass-like composition could
be responsible for the observed phenomena. Certain
silica glasses [2 6] have an ultraviolet cu toff correspon.ding closely with the observed CUl'\Te. In a
splintered or crushed form th ey would r efiect a
m eas urable amount of radiant energy after transmiLtan ce through an appreciable thickness of material. A small iron content would result in selective
absorp t ion at 380 to 39 0 m,u and would give th e
material a slightly yellowish color. A pulveriz ed
glassy silicate lunar s urface would ? e hi ghly insulating and would produce ch aracten stlCs compa tIble
with Lempera t ure m easurem en ts obtained during
eclipse and with lunar phase changes [15 , 16, 19].
The low average alb edo [7 , 27 to 30, inclusive],
about 7.3 percen t, corresponds closely to th e expected refiec tivi ty from glassy 111aterial. Although

83

IOr--r--'--'--'--.---.--r--r--.--.--.-~--.--.
o

_2.-JJ----6-~--

~~6.J>-O-

0 / 9- ...

0 '

~6~o..?- ~ ... o

qo

cf~~

5
I

)cb
8

"

10

gO~O~~23~4~O~~3~8~O~~4~2~O--~~46~O~~~5~O~O~~5~4~O~~5~80
FI GlJ RIi]

6.

WAVELENGTH. MILLIMICRONS
R elative spectral reflectivity of the moon.

m eas urements of the albedo of Lh e moon a re not

precise, most of them faU below about 12 p er cen t.
H en ce, the s urface of the moon may b e composed ,
at least in p ar t, of powde red glassy silicates. Ineiden tally, t be high p ercen tn,ge of 8i0 2 in the earth 's
crust might s uggest the possibility of a terrain
s imilar to th at of the mo on had not air, vvater,
erosion , etc., been present.
The observations on polarization at th e s urface of
th e moon b y Wrigh t [12] indicate r efi ection by a fine
text ure an d " point to pumiceous s ubstances high in
silica, to powders of tra nsparent substances and to
quartz porphyries and possibl y to tr ach ytes and
granites as th e materials w e see at the moon's surface." Similarly, the relative spectral r efiec tivity
c urve for the moon obtained in th e present investigation points to th e possibility tha t th e surface materials are, at least in part, composed of powder ed
glassy silicates. Further r efinem en ts in the observations of this interesting satellite are n eed ed , however,
before definitive conclusions can b e drawn.

4. Atmospheric transmittance and ozone '

The atmospheric transmission curve depicted in
figure 7 is plo tted in th e usual way in terms of the

- - - - - - - _.

9.S
WASHINGTON, D. C.
9 .6

NOVEMSER

195 2

..

~ 9.4

lI-

9. 2

If)

~ 9. 0

a:
8.S

I-

(!)-

S.6

S ~1'"::-0---:3~2-:-0--:::33~0--:3::-4""0---::-35:!cO:--::C3~60,....-Jc..,3::-:8""0-'-4""0""'0""4~20""'"450~-=5~00,,--,-l600
WAVEL ENGTH, MILLIM IC RONS

FIG URE

7.

Atmospheric transmittance (from moon data).

logarithm of the observed transmittances of unit

atmosphere (at Washington) for the different wavelengths as a function of the wavelengths. This, in
turn, is expanded [31] according to the function
- (,u- l )2}. -~ of the Rayleigh law of molecular scattering,
in which }. is the 'w avelength of the radiant energy,
and ,u is the index of refraction of the atmosphere.
Since, for the zenith position the atmospheric
depth, Fl, and the molecular density, N, arc constant,
the resulting plot of the logarithm of the atmospheric transmittances becomes a straight line in
those spectral regions wherein the Rayleigh law of
pUl"e molecular scattering is applicable. In as much
as appreciable ozone absorption occurs only at
wavelengths shorter than about 330 m,u, the data
herein recorded are inadequate for use in ozone
determinations. Between 300 and 330 m,u (fig. 4),
the observed intensities were extremely low and the
instrumental noise levels relatively high . With
certain improvements in the equipment, it is hop cd
to reach sensitivities adequate for use of the apparatus in ozone determinations at night. As an
alternative,the use of a condensing lens or mirror
may be advantageous in supplying sufficient radiant
energy from the moon for this purpose.

S. Summary and Conclusions

This report presents the first observed ultraviolet
photometric CUl"ve of moonlight from data obtained
primarily on a single .night, although measurements
were made on three additional nights when the moon
was near its full phase and at high altitudes. Despite the fact that the measurements were made
through the dense blanket of atmosphere over a sealevel station, interesting information was obtained
having a bearing on the composition of the lunar
surface. Further nighttime measurements at higher
altitude stations with improved equipment should
result in additional information not only on lunar
reflectivity but also on ozone concentration.
The extremely high sensitivity of the equipment
lends its usefulness in other fields of research, in
particulal' to stellar investigations. With telescopic
magnification sufficient radiant energy from many
stars, and also from small areas on the moon should
be available to permit precise determinations of

ultraviolet spectral intensities. Preliminary tests

already made of weak fluorescent sources, reflections
from dull surfaces, and of radiant energy from small
sky areas (even during rainfall or after sundown)
indicate a wide range of possible application for the
equipment.
6 . References
[1] Ralph E . Baldwin, The face of the moon (University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. , 1949) .
[2] L . J . Spencer, Meteorites and craters on the moon,
Nature, 139 ,655 (1937) .
[3] R. A. McIntosh, Origin of lunar features, J. Roy. Astro!lorn. Soc. Can. 37, 24 (1943).
[4] S. J. Hacker and J. Q. Stewart, Lunar ray craters,
Astrophys. J. 81, 37 (1935).
[5] Allan O. Kelly, The geo logy of the moon, Popular
Astron. 55,530 (1947) .
[6] A. C. Gifford, Th e mountains of the moon, New Zealand
J. Sci. T echno!. 7, 129 (1924).
[7] Henry Korris Ru ssel, Raymond Smith Dugan, and John
Quincy Stewart, Astronomy (Ginn & Co. , Chicago,
Ill. , 1926).
[8] Robert H. Baker, Astronomy (D. Van Nostrand Co ,
New York, N. Y., 1950) .
[9] Fred L . Whipple, Earth, moon and planets (Blakiston
Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 1941).
[10] W . S. Krogdahl, The astronomical universe (Macmillan
Co., New York, N . Y ., 1952).
[11] F. E. 'Wright, The surface features of the moon, Sci.
Mont hly 40,101 (1935) .
[12] F . E . vVright, Polarization of light reflected from rough
surfaces with special reference to light reflected by the
moon Proc. Nat. Acad . Sci. 13,535 (1927).
[13] F . E. vi~right, The surface of the moon , Carnegie In st .,
Wash. , Pub. Ko. 501, p. 59 (1938) .
[14] B . Lyot, Etude des surfaces planetaires par la polarization , Compt. rend. 177, 1015 (1923) .
[15] Edison P ettit, Lunar radiation as related to phase,
Astrophys. J . 81, 17 (1935).
[16] Edison Pettit and Seth B. N icholson, Lunar radiation and
temperature, Astrophys. J. 71, 102 (1930) .
[17] Donald H . Menzel, vVater-cell transmissions and planetary temperatures, Astrophys. J . 58, 65 (1923).
[18] W . vI'. Coblentz, Further tests of stellar radiometers and
so me m easurements of planetary radiation , BS Sci .
Pap. 18,535 (1922) S460.
[19] Edison Pettit, Rad iation measurements on the eclipsed
moon , Contr. Mt. Wilson Obs. No. 627, 26, 165 (1940) .
[20] R. W. Wood , The moon in ultraviolet light, and spectroselenography, Popu lar Astron. 18, 67 (1 910).
[21] Ralph Stair, Photoelectric spectroradiometry and its
a,pplication to the measurement of fluore scent lamps,
J . Research NBS 46, 437 (1951) RP2212.
[22] R. Stair and W. O. Smith , A tungsten- in-quartz lamp and
its application in photoelectric radiometry, J . Research
NBS 30, 449 (1943) RP 1543.
[23] Ralph Stair, Ultraviolet spectral distribution of radiant
energy from the sun , J . Research NBS 46, 353 (1951)
RP2206.
[24] Ralph Stair, Ultraviolet radiant energy from the sun
observed at 11,190 feet, J . Research NBS 49, 227
(1952) RP2357 .
[25] Donald H . Menzel, Our sun (Blakiston Co. , Philadelphia,
Pa., 1949).
[26] Ralph Stair, Spectral-transmissive properties and use of
eye-protective gla sses, NBS Ci rcular 471 (1948).
[27] Henry Norris Russell, On the albedo of the planets and
t heir satellites, Astrophys . J . 43 , 173 (1916).
[28] G. Rougier, Photometric comparison of moon and sun,
Photoelectric albedo of the moon, Compt. rend. 202,
463 (1936).
[29] Edison Pettit, The co-albedo of the moon , Contr. Mt.
Wi lson Obs. No. 705, 28, 173 (1945).
[30] Handb uch d el' Astrop hysik 2, par t 1, Verlag von Julius
Springer, Berlin, 1929) .
[31] Edison Pettit, Spectral energy-curve of t he sun in the
ultraviolet, Astrophys. J. 91, 159 (1940) .
WASHINGTON,

84

May 15, 1953.