best viewed large
Lunar Eclipse
4:30 am August 28, 2007
Got up a bit early to witness a full lunar eclipse in the southwestern sky. At 4:00 am, I noticed a shadow at the top of the moon but I waited 30 minutes until more of the moon was covered before I grabbed the camera. Here you can see the moon is 3/4 immersed in the earth's umbra or shadow.
click to enlarge
best viewed large
Lunar Eclipse
5:00 am August 28, 2007
In the second photograph, you can see how the moon turns red when most of the light is shaded by the Earth. Some light from the sun is scattered by Earth's atmosphere, so the moon does not appear completely dark - it takes on a coppery brown color when fully immersed in the earth's umbra.
Unfortunately, the setting moon dropped out of site behind some trees so I began to move the camera, but not before clouds began to obscure the view.
I'll just have to wait for the next lunar eclipse six months from now on February 20-21.
No comments:
Post a Comment