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Credit & Copyright: Jean-Francois Gout
Explanation:
Shaped like a cone tapering into space, the Earth's dark
central shadow
or umbra
has a circular cross-section.
It's wider than the Moon at the distance of
the Moon's orbit though.
But
during
the lunar eclipse
of November 18/19, part of
the Moon remained just outside the umbral shadow.
The successive pictures
in this composite of 5 images from that
almost total
lunar eclipse
were taken over a period of about 1.5 hours.
The series is aligned to trace part of the cross-section's
circular
arc, with the central image at maximum eclipse.
It shows a bright, thin sliver of the lunar disk still beyond
the shadow's curved edge.
Of course, even within the shadow the Moon's surface is not completely
dark, reflecting the reddish hues of filtered sunlight scattered
into the shadow by Earth's atmosphere.
Notable APOD Submissions:
Lunar
Eclipse of 2021 November 19
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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: lunar eclipse
Publications with words: lunar eclipse
See also: