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by Bill Arnett
I noticed something tonight that I've never noticed before: the lunar maria are not at all uniform in color. Of course, I don't mean the various ridges, craters and rays that intrude. But the dark mare material itself. There are at least two major colors and probably many shades of these. Example, Sinus Iridum is of the lighter shade while the section of Imbrium just south of it is darker. I fooled myself for a while into thinking that the lighter areas were "shallower" parts of the "seas" :-) but I would guess that the truth is more like a chemical difference.
BTW, this was much easier to see with my binoviewer than with a single eyepiece. I had noticed sometime ago that the plateau around Aristarchus is a much different color, too, and that it shows up better with the binoviewer. Aperture may help, too; I was using a 12" LX200.