#Lunar eclipse diagram explained full#

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#Lunar eclipse diagram explained full#

But the eclipse can only be seen from those places where it is night and the full moon will be visible in the sky.Īs such, the timings of a lunar eclipse are only dependent on the local timezone. With a lunar eclipse, the eclipse occurs at the same moment for every location on Earth. This was the case in April 2014, when Australians saw the end half of a lunar eclipse, followed two weeks later by the first half of a solar eclipse. And when it does happen the eclipses are usually cut short. It’s fairly uncommon for both eclipses in a set to be seen from one location. When the moon passes directly in front of the sun, rather than above or below, a solar eclipse occurs.Ī pair of eclipses occurs about every six months. The two of them are together in the daytime sky and the moon rises with the sun and sets at sunset. The sun and moon are now positioned on the same side of the Earth.

The new moon is the opposite phase to the full moon. On occasion there can even be a trio of eclipses, with the alignment of the moon’s orbit such that three successive eclipses will occur. After all, if the moon’s orbit is in the right position to cause a lunar eclipse at full moon, then it will also produce a solar eclipse at new moon. It so happens, that lunar eclipses and solar eclipses always come in pairs. It refracts or bends the red light, redirecting the light into the Earth’s shadow to bathe the moon in a coppery glow. The blue light is completely scattered away leaving only the red light (or long wavelength light) to make it through. When the sun is low on the horizon at sunrise and sunset, the light travels through enough atmosphere to scatter the blue light away and the sky turns red.ĭuring a total lunar eclipse, sunlight must travel entirely through the Earth’s atmosphere before reaching the moon. The more atmosphere the sunlight must pass through, the more scattering occurs. These molecules and aerosols are very good at scattering blue light (or short wavelength light) in every direction. In fact, it’s the same effect that makes the sky blue.Įarth’s atmosphere is made up gas molecules and also contains airborne particles, such dust and smoke, which are collectively known as aerosols. The red colour is due to scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere. In fact, if you were standing on the moon during totality and looking back at the Earth, you would see the atmosphere lit up as a red ring of light.

What’s happening is that some sunlight still manages to reach the moon but it must travel through Earth’s atmosphere to get there. But instead of becoming completely dark, this is the wonderful moment when the moon takes on a coppery or reddish-orange glow. Totality occurs when the moon sits entirely within the umbra. But as more of the moon is engulfed in shadow something surprising starts to happen. With the moon partially eclipsed, the region in shadow is quite dark and appears in stark contrast to the remaining bright regions of the moon. Importantly, only a round Earth will produce a curved shadow every single time a lunar eclipse occurs and independently of where you happen to be located as you watch the eclipse. He used this view to support the idea that we live on a spherical Earth. Observation made by Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago. Whenever you see that effect, you are repeating an The various stages of a total lunar eclipse - this one seen from Alaska on December 20th 2010 over a two hour period.