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Credit & Copyright: Stephen Barnes
Explanation:
Our Moon turned red last week.
The reason was that during the night of January 20, a total lunar eclipse occurred.
The
above digitally superimposed photographs captured the
Moon three times during this
lunar eclipse, once just as the Moon entered the Earth's
shadow,
once when the Moon was near the middle of the
shadow,
and once just before the Moon exited.
The red tint of the
eclipsed Moon is created by sunlight
first passing through the Earth's atmosphere,
which preferentially scatters blue light (making the
sky blue) but passes and
refracts red light, before reflecting back off the Moon.
Differing amounts of
clouds and
volcanic dust in the Earth's atmosphere make each
lunar eclipse appear differently.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
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: Moon - lunar eclipse
Publications with words: Moon - lunar eclipse
See also: