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Credit & Copyright: Chris Hetlage  
  
  
Explanation:
A big, bright, beautiful Full Moon  
slid  
into planet Earth's shadow early Tuesday morning.  
  
Remarkably,  
the total lunar eclipse  
coincided with the  
date of the December Solstice.  
  
During the eclipse,  
the best viewing in North America  
found the coppery lunar disc high in a cold winter sky,  
the Moon reddened by light filtering into the Earth's  
dark central shadow or umbra.  
  
The light comes from all the sunsets and sunrises, seen  
from a lunar perspective around  
the edges of a silhouetted Earth.  
  
Passing closer to the center of the umbra, the Moon's southern  
hemisphere (left) appears darker in this eclipse image, recorded  
from Deerlick Astronomy  
Village, Georgia, USA.  
  
The picture is a digital composite, a separate longer exposure added to  
an eclipse frame to capture the surrounding star field.  
  
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: total lunar eclipse - lunar eclipse - solstice
Publications with words: total lunar eclipse - lunar eclipse - solstice
See also:
