The weather is nice recently. You may have seen the Moon clearly at night. Have you thought about how the moonlight can be used for scientific research?

NASA has used a spectrometer called air-LUSI to measure the amount of moonlight. This instrument has to be carried by a special aircraft that allows it to watch the moon at the top of the atmosphere. Without the effect of Earth's atmosphere, the moonlight will become very stable which can act as a benchmark to increase the accuracy of image analysis taken by Earth-observing satellites working in Space. Thus, scientists can have a better grasp of some changes including Earth's climate and environment.

The image shows the air-LUSI spectrometer pointing to a simulated moon in the laboratory.

Credit: NASA photo/Ken Ulbrich