How does the Moon's appearance change during a total lunar eclipse?
The
featured time-lapse video was digitally processed to keep
the Moon
bright and centered during the 5-hour eclipse of
2018 January 31.
At first the full moon is visible because only a
full moon can undergo a lunar eclipse.
Stars move by in the background because the Moon orbits
the Earth during
the eclipse.
The
circular shadow
of the Earth is then seen moving across the Moon.
The light blue hue of the shadow's edge is related to
why Earth's sky is blue, while the deep red hue of
the shadow's center is related to
why the Sun appears red when near the horizon.
Tomorrow night, people living in Eastern
Asia,
Australia, and much of
North America may
get to see a
Total Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse.
Here the term
blood refers to the (likely) red
color of a fully eclipsed Moon.