Moons · Moon
Earth’s Moon in near-natural colour from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: light highlands, dark maria and charcoal-grey dust.
Featured palette: LRO LROC colour map (CGI Moon Kit, 2025) (Sampled from this image)
#C1BCB9#C6C0BD#D2CECC#B8B2AD#A59E99#888483#E2DFDF
Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (Ernie Wright), data from LRO LROC and LOLA teams. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (WAC)
About Moon
The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite. Nearly its entire surface is covered by charcoal-grey regolith. The light areas are the highlands; the dark maria are impact basins filled with lava between 4.2 and 1.2 billion years ago.
| Classification | Moon |
|---|---|
| Parent body | Earth |
| Mean radius | 1,737.4 km ± 0.1 kmmean radius · NASA JPL Solar System Dynamics |
| Diameter | 3,475 kmequatorial diameter · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Orbital period | 27.3 daysorbital period around Earth · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Axial tilt | 6.70°obliquity to orbit (axial tilt) · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Mean temperature | -20 °Cmean temperature as defined by the NASA fact sheet (surface or 1-bar level); not comparable with stellar temperatures · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
Why these colours?
Highlands and maria
The LROC colour map was built from 643, 566 and 415 nm images with white balance adjusted toward human vision, so the contrast between bright highlands and dark maria reads as greys with faint warm and cool tints.
From: LRO LROC colour map (CGI Moon Kit, 2025) Approximate visible appearance
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Moon.
LRO LROC colour map (CGI Moon Kit, 2025)
Sampled from this image · LRO LROC colour map (CGI Moon Kit, 2025)
#C1BCB9RGB 193, 188, 185region average#C6C0BDRGB 198, 192, 18927% of the region#D2CECCRGB 210, 206, 20422% of the region#B8B2ADRGB 184, 178, 17322% of the region#A59E99RGB 165, 158, 15311% of the region#888483RGB 136, 132, 1319% of the region#E2DFDFRGB 226, 223, 2239% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Moon
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Moonlight
Inspired by this object
#302D2CRGB 48, 45, 44from #888483#534D49RGB 83, 77, 73from #A59E99#76716CRGB 118, 113, 108from #B8B2AD#9C9693RGB 156, 150, 147from #C6C0BD#C2BEBCRGB 194, 190, 188from #D2CECC#EAE7E7RGB 234, 231, 231from #E2DFDF
Lunar greys spread from mare to highland for a neutral palette.
Explore the views and the 3D model
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
Sphere with a global map A sphere carrying a global map; the shape is a sphere, not a measured shape, and the map’s own coverage gaps are shown as they are. Objects are enlarged or scaled for inspection unless stated otherwise.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Moon’s colours
Is the Moon grey?
Mostly, yes: its regolith is charcoal grey. Mineral maps that make it look colourful are enhanced and are not shown as natural colour here.
Sources
- Planetary Fact Sheet — Metric — NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (Metric table, retrieved 2026-10-25 (sha256 42bdc3f1dae470b8…))
- 3D Resources — NASA
- LRO LROC colour map (CGI Moon Kit, 2025) — NASA SVS
- Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters — NASA JPL Solar System Dynamics
Image credits
- LRO LROC colour map (CGI Moon Kit, 2025): NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (Ernie Wright), data from LRO LROC and LOLA teams. NASA media (not copyrighted). Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 f7130a1822681fa7512d7dcfd40db8c10b9ba4f06777910348698260ed7a2170).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 1114b511849b. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.