Re: Moon question

"William C. Keel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Chris L Peterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Interesting tidbit that came up from a colleague around here - the large
> albedo difference between Earth and Moon cancels out (in the mean) if we
> compare the surface brightnesses of earthlit Moon and moonlit Earth, since
> in both cases what enters is the product of both albedos. Earthshine
> is brighter than moonlight is here by essentially the ratio of fractions
> of the sky covered by Moon and Earth, as seen from each other.
>

Are you sure?
I'd have thought that the earthlit Moon would be easily brighter than the
moonlit Earth.
Reason being that the earth has a higher albedo than the moon and also is
much larger; so both in terms of size and reflectivity it beats the moon
hands down.

Or have I missed the point of your colleague's observation?