A Mineral Moon

This “mineral Moon” image pushes the subtle natural color differences across the lunar surface far beyond what the eye can see, revealing mineral composition hidden in the regolith: the blue-grey maria are rich in titanium-bearing ilmenite, while the golden-tan highlands and crater rays — especially the bright system radiating from Tycho at the bottom — are more iron-poor and aluminum-rich. These color differences are real but extremely faint in ordinary images; strong saturation boosting during processing is what makes them visible.

Assembled as a multi-pane mosaic, color-calibrated and processed in PixInsight.