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Credit & Copyright: Dominique Dierick
Explanation:
This
sharp telescopic snapshot caught late September's Harvest Moon
completely immersed in Earth's dark
umbral shadow,
at the beginning of a total lunar eclipse.
It was the final
eclipse
in a tetrad, a string of four consecutive total lunar eclipses.
A dark apparition of the Full
Moon near perigee, this total
eclipse's color was a deep blood red,
the lunar surface reflecting
light within Earth's shadow filtered through the lower atmosphere.
Seen from a lunar perspective, the reddened light comes from
all the sunsets and sunrises around the edges of a
silhouetted Earth.
But close to the shadow's edge, the limb of the eclipsed Moon
shows a distinct blue hue.
The blue eclipsed moonlight is still filtered through Earth's atmosphere
though, originating as rays of sunlight pass through layers high in
the upper stratosphere, colored by ozone that scatters red light
and transmits blue.
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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: