[REALISM] Moon with atmosphere ??

[N_Molson]

Some pics of the Moon here and there in the game are more than a bit wrong about Moon's appearance. Ranger 3 is a good example, showing a nice but fictionnal gray atmosphere around our satellite :



Now I know that there are traces of atmosphere on the Moon, because meteroids bring all sort of elements on its surface, but it is neglectable, doesn't affect at all a spacecraft dynamics and certainly not visible. Just some molecules floating here and there above the surface. From Wikipedia :

Atmosphere
Surface pressure : 10e-7 Pa (day) ; 10e-10 Pa (night)
Composition : Ar, He, Na, K, H, Rn

10e-7 Pa is... an extremely small value. Sharp shadows and a sharp terminator are what give this world a real "alien" feeling in comparison of Earth. Here's the famous "X-mas view" from Apollo 8, there's really nothing visible outside. And the horizon line is sharp like a razor blade.

[Nacho84]

Artistic license

All joking aside, I really didn't notice that. I'll tell the artist to fix it and we'll include it in a future update. Well spotted!

Cheers,

[N_Molson]

For the sake of Science and Education, thanks !

[hyphon]

After the latest researches there is some kind of atmosphere at the moon. In south polar region there was a measurement of a hydrogen "mist" above some craters.
Very few atoms over some cubic-meters. SO something I wouldn't real call an atmosphere.

For sure, as like for Mercury, there's some frozen Water or other iced liquids or gases in some crater's.
But this is only applying to places which aren't exposed to direct sunlight for very long periods.

Source: "Raumzeit Podcast", German language podcast with changing guests talking about the mission's, departments and some other stuff of ESA (European Space Agency) and DLR (Deutsche Luft- und Raumfahrtbehörde, German Aeronautics- and Space-Agency)

@N_Molson: On your picture the earth also seems to have no real atmosphere! There's only a blue marble with an sharp edge to space!

[N_Molson]

I won't give up on this. There is no real atmosphere on the Moon, only traces, and nothing visible, period. Ask Dr. Aldrin.

But yeah, there is no "blue haze" around the Earth when seen from a distance. We often see that in games or renders, but it's definitively an artistic licence. No "haze" or "mist" either around Venus, Jupiter, etc... Contrast between color and the absolute blackness of space make that impossible anyway.

Typical wrong representation of Earth from space (not taken from BASPM !) :



Real picture (Earth from Apollo 17) :



Looking closely there is a thin haze, mostly above the oceans, but nothing comparable to the above render.

[hyphon]

@N_Molson: Before you start another picture attack, please reread my post above and make yourself clear, that the last sentence was sarcastic, because the Earth's atmosphere isn't to see at the picture.
I could also stat that the earth has just one hemisphere, because of the termination, the other hemisphere of the earth isn't to see...

I never stated, that the Moon has a real atmosphere, either Mercury, but there were scientific instruments that detected something like mist at Moon and Mercury pole regions, caused by pils in crater's.
European and US-American probes and one from India had all the same results.

Dr. Aldrin never was at Moon's pole region. "Tranquility Base" was more than one thousand kilometers away from the north pole... So it wouldn't make sense to bother the man.