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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: "Missing" Moon Linked to Major 1761 Eruption?


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A massive column of ash and gas rises from Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines on June 12, 1991. The eruption spewed enough material into the atmosphere that viewers in Maryland reported seeing a dimmed lunar eclipse in 1992.

A 1761 eclipse so dark that the moon seemed to vanish from the sky was most likely the result of a mysterious volcanic eruption, a former NASA scientist reported in January 2009.

Photograph by Dave Harlow/USGS