 A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the shadow of the earth. This will only happen at the full moon but, because the orbit plane of the moon is tilted 5° from the orbit plane of the earth, not at every full moon.
There are three types of lunar eclipses, penumbral, partial, and total. Penumbral eclipses happen frequently, but are difficult to see. There are two parts to the shadow of the earth: the umbra, where all light from the sun is blocked, and the penumbra, where only part of the sun's light is blocked. A penumbral eclipse occurs when the moon only passes through the penumbra. A partial eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the penumbra and part of the umbra. A total eclipe occurs when the moon passes completely through the umbra.
Total lunar eclipses are wonderful as the moon can take on beautiful shades of orange and red as it passes through earth's shadow. This is due to the fact that while no direct light from the sun shines on the moon, scattered light that passes through the earth's atmosphere is bent (refracted) and paints the moon with sunset-like colors. The picture above is an example of the red color of a fully eclipsed moon but, like sunsets, all total eclipses can look different.
taken Aug 10, 2002 |
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