Submitted by coutt5 t3_ypkjel in askscience
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Comments
coutt5 OP t1_ivkg3r8 wrote
how does a sphere reflect light in the way that the moon does? it doesnt make sense for a sphere to reflect light in that way, or even at all. im going to test this soon anyway though
albasri t1_ivl845z wrote
What do you mean by "the way the moon does"? What way is that?
coutt5 OP t1_ivl95w7 wrote
a sphere cannot physically reflect light. how then does the moon reflect light? if its because of the jagged terrain on the moon, then would this jagged terrain produce the illumination which you see when you look at the moon at night? if a christmas ornament is scaled up to the size of the moon, would it also reflect light in the way that the moon does? would the moon be able to reflect light if you scale it down to the size of a christmas ornament?
albasri t1_ivnbkau wrote
Why do you think a sphere cannot reflect light?
Google something like "spherical mirror" or "spherical reflection" or the convex mirror section here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curved_mirror
albasri t1_ivk6iit wrote
Weirdly in what way? There is nothing special about the moon except that it is very large, reflects a lot of light, and is far away (so the reflected light had to travel through our atmosphere).