Things are not what they seem

See the ball of light below. That is a picture of a moon. The moon usually has craters and other pockmarks.


Same moon but looking more like the one seen in documentaries. There are more features.


It is tempting to say that both pictures were taken on different days. But they are not. They are taken just seconds apart.

So what happened to the aura? The glaring ball of light seemed to have disappeared and in its place, we have gotten a white ball. of light.

I am aware of light being scattered by particles but how does that change the colour of the moon just by zooming in?

And then it struck me. When I am shooting the moon with zero magnification, there is light from other sources entering my camera. It is also entering my eyes so it is not a camera problem. But when I zoom in, the light particles mainly come from the moon directly.

So how can I test this theory? By looking at the moon through a pinhole? By looking at the moon through a smoke column? By looking at the moon through a tube?

More experiments to try.