Lunar Eclipse Pictures: When the Moon Goes Red

Lunar Eclipse Cut by Clouds

Photograph from China Photos/Getty Images

Earth's shadow reddens much of the moon during a 2007 lunar eclipse, as seen from China. The rusty hues of lunar eclipses are due to dust in Earth's atmosphere.

As the sun's rays pass through the atmosphere at an angle, blueish light is filtered out—the same reason the sun looks reddish during sunrises and sunsets. (See "Lunar Eclipse Saturday to Appear Red?")

If you were on the moon during totality, when the entire moon is in shadow, "you would look back at the Earth and see a ring of red light around the perimeter—the red light of all the sunsets and sunrises going on at Earth at that moment," astronomer Benjamin Burress said.

The reason Earth's shadow doesn't make the moon completely dark, even during totality, is that "Earth's atmosphere bends and filters the sunlight to shine a red light on the moon," said Burress, of Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California.

Published December 20, 2010

Darkness Falls

Photograph by Bullit Marquez, AP

The moon's north pole goes dark during a partial lunar eclipse in June 2010, as seen from the Philippines. Unlike this or any other total lunar eclipse in 372 years, the December 2010 lunar eclipse will coincide with the winter solstice.

Occurring at 6:38 p.m. ET Tuesday, the 2010 winter solstice marks the official beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The shortest day of the year boasts the year's longest shadows and fewest daylight hours.

It's all due to the Northern Hemisphere being tilted farther from the sun than at any other point during the year. As a result, the sun follows its lowest arc of the year across the sky.

(Related: "Solstice a Cause for Celebration Since Ancient Times.")

Published December 20, 2010

Lunar Halo

Photograph by Daniel Roland, AP

Sunshine crowns the moon during a partial lunar eclipse in 2008, as seen from Germany.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon, Earth, and the sun all line up, with Earth in the middle.

During the eclipse, Earth's shadow is cast onto the full moon, dimming—but not completely obscuring—its surface. Unlike solar eclipses, the lunar varieties are safe to view without any special eyewear.

Lunar eclipses occur twice a year. The previous one fell on June 26, 2010. (See "Lunar Eclipse Saturday to Appear Red?") But the June event was only a partial lunar eclipse.

Published December 20, 2010

Totality

Photograph by Michael P. King, The Post-Crescent/AP

Lunar eclipses—such as this total lunar eclipse seen over Wisconsin in 2008—have long been seen as bad omens.

Ancient documents from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East are full of references connecting eclipses with subsequent dark events, such as a famine or the death of a monarch. (Take a moon myths and mysteries quiz.)

In many traditional cultures, a total lunar eclipse occurs not when the moon enters Earth's shadow but when a mythological creature swallows the satellite, according to ancient-astronomy scholar Ed Krupp.

"For the Chinese, it was the heavenly dog, and across central Asia and Europe, it was a dragon," said Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. "The Maya sometimes depicted the eclipse creature as a serpent, while in the Andes, it was often a puma."

In Iraq lunar eclipses are associated with a popular children's story of a moon that is eaten by a whale.

"For most people, most of the time, most eclipses were trouble," Krupp added. "They were regarded as disruptions of the world order, and that made them dangerous."

Published December 20, 2010

Foreshadowing Tonight's Lunar Eclipse

Photograph by Stan Honda, AFP/Getty Images

A composite picture of a lunar eclipse over Florida in 2008 shows about what you can expect to see during the 2010 winter solstice lunar eclipse, from start to finish.

The entire lunar eclipse will be best seen from North America and western South America. In most of Europe and Africa, the moon will dip below the horizon in mid-eclipse.

Unlike, say, last week's Geminid meteor shower (pictures), a lunar eclipse represents "one of the few times that an astronomical event is easily visible from even the heavily light polluted cities," said Raminder Singh Samra, resident astronomer at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada.

"Lunar eclipses are special, in a way, as the observer that is always in the city or too busy to get away can see this from his or her own backyard."

Published December 20, 2010