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Credit & Copyright: Chander Devgun
(SPACE)
Explanation:
Our Moon turned red last week.
The reason was that during December 10, a
total lunar eclipse occurred.
The above digitally superimposed image mosaic captured the Moon many times during
the eclipse, from before the
Moon entered Earth's shadow
until after the Moon exited.
The image sequence was recorded over a
Shanti Stupa
Peace Pagota
near the
center of
New Delhi,
India,
where the eclipse of the Moon was nearly, but not completely, total.
The red tint of the
eclipsed Moon was 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.
The next total lunar eclipse
will occur only in 2014.
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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