What color is the moon?

月亮是什麼顏色？

I asked you all this question and got some very interesting answers.

我問了大家這個問題，然後得到了一些非常有趣的回答

Silver like aluminum

就像鋁一樣的銀色

white, like the color of clouds

白色，像雲的顏色

Chalky, like ash

灰白，像灰燼一樣

silver, kind of like an old coin

銀色，就像舊硬幣

gray like pavement

像鋪路石的灰色

silver like your mother's hair

像母親頭髮的銀色

milky chalk

粉筆的乳白色

gray like a used eraser

灰色，像用過的擦子

white, like a diamond

白色，像一顆鑽石

But among all the varied responses and interesting comparisons, you all pretty much agreed: The

而在這些各異的回答和有趣的對比當中，大家普遍認同

moon is a very light color, something like this.

月亮有著相當明亮的顏色，像這樣

But what if I told you it was actually more like this

但是如果我告訴你真正的顏色其實是像這樣

[MUSIC]

(音樂)

When our brains are trying to figure out what color something is

當我們的大腦想知道某物體的顏色時

the first thing we do is try to figure out how bright it is.

大腦做的第一件事是嘗試分析它的亮度

This side of the apple looks like a brighter color than

我們確實可以看到，蘋果這邊的顏色看起來比

the side away from the light, we can see that is so,

另外一邊的顏色明亮

but our brains are able to take this lighting into

我們的大腦將明暗納入分析

account and we know that the whole apple is the same red.

但我們知道整顆蘋果是同樣的紅

If a car drives out of a dark tunnel, we don’t assume the car magically

如果一輛車駛入昏暗的隧道，我們不會說這輛車神奇地

changed color, because our brains correct for differences in all the light

變了顏色，而是知道大腦校正了

in whatever scene we’re looking at.

我們視野中的明暗亮度差異

But that doesn't always work so well.

但這功能不是總是有用

Here's a white square

這是一個白色方塊

No, here's a white square.

不，這是白色方塊

No, here's a white square

不，這是白色方塊

Wait a second, what is going on here?

等等，這是怎麼了？

All these squares are the same.

所有的方塊是一樣的

And you may have seen this famous illusion before. The two lettered squares are actually the

而你也可能看過這個有名的錯覺圖。這兩個有字母的方塊實際上

same color.

有著相同的顏色

Even when the light in a scene doesn’t change, the colors surrounding an object can also

即使背景亮度都是相同，在物體周圍的顏色一樣可以

trick our brains. If you stare at the center of this image, between the yellow and blue

欺騙我們的大腦。如果注視著這張圖的中央──就是黃色和藍色

bars, the tiny squares look like different colors, but they’re not.

長條之間，這兩個小方塊看起來有著不一樣的顏色，但卻非如此

If our brains could make an absolute measurement of light passing through our pupils, maybe

如果我們的大腦可以準確測量經過瞳孔的光線強度，也許

we wouldn’t be tricked by these illusions. But we can’t do that, our eyes aren’t cameras

我們就不會被這些錯覺所騙。但是我們做不到。我們的眼睛不是相機

or light meters or that little eyedropper tool in Photoshop.

不是測光表或Photoshop裡的滴管工具

As far as our brains are concerned, it’s not what color something is, it’s what

我們的大腦所關注的，不是東西的真正顏色，而是

color something appears to be.

看起來是什麼顏色

Which brings us back to the moon. The full moon gives enough light that

回到月亮這個話題。滿月的光線甚至足以

it can even cast shadows on the ground on a dark night here on Earth. But it only looks so blindingly

在黑暗的夜晚中在地球表面投射出陰影。但是也只能在夜空中如此明亮眩目

bright in the night sky because there’s nothing else nearby it to compare to, except

因為沒有其他東西來和她比較，除了

the night sky itself.

夜空本身

Instead of measuring the absolute

我們的眼睛和大腦不是測量月亮散發出的

number and wavelength of photons the moon gives off, our eyes and brains compare the relative amounts

光子數量和波長，而是比較

of light given off by two or more objects within our field of view.

視野中兩個或多個物體所散發的光線的相對量

So how bright is the moon?

所以月亮到底有多亮？

Not that bright. The moon only reflects about 13% of the light that hits its surface. But

其實沒有那麼亮。月亮只約反射了所有到達月表光線量的13%

in the night sky, against the dark blackness of space, it’s the brightest

但是在夜空中，對比於整個空間的黑暗

thing we can see, so our brains tell us “that’s white”.

我們看到她最亮，所以大腦告訴我們「那是白色的」

But if we viewed the moon next to Earth, under the same illumination, it would be a very

但是如果在相同的明度下，我們把月亮放在地球旁邊，月亮看起來

dark gray, almost like an asphalt road. In fact, you can see this dark gray color in

會是非常深灰色，就像柏油路一樣。事實上，你可以在阿波羅計劃中一些在月表拍的

photos taken on the Moon during the Apollo missions. Compared to a white spacesuit, suddenly

照片中看到這種深灰色。和白色的太空服相比，月亮瞬間

the moon doesn’t seem as bright, does it?

看起來沒有那麼亮，是吧

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little mind-bender, and that next time you look up at the moon,

我希望你有享受到這個小小的錯覺饗宴，而下次你抬頭看月亮時

you don’t see it in exactly the same light.

記得她不是真的有這樣的亮度

Remember, the eye and the mind work together in mysterious ways, and…

提醒你，眼和腦有著奧妙神秘的合作方式...

“Colors, seen by candle-light will not look the same by day.”

「燭光下看到的顏色，與白日所見不同」（布朗寧夫人）

Stay curious.

保持好奇

（另一部影片內容）