Posted on 03/15/2025 12:19:00 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: On March 14 the Moon was Full. In an appropriate celebration of Pi day, that put the Moon 3.14 radians (180 degrees) in ecliptic longitude from the Sun in planet Earth's sky. As a bonus for fans of Pi and the night sky, on that date the Moon also passed directly through Earth's umbral shadow in a total lunar eclipse. In clear skies, the colors of an eclipsed Moon can be vivid. Reflecting the deeply reddened sunlight scattered into Earth's shadow, the darkened lunar disk was recorded in this time series composite image from Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile. The lunar triptych captures the start, middle, and end of the total eclipse phase that lasted about an hour. A faint bluish tint seen just along the brighter lunar limb at the shadow's edge is due to sunlight filtered through Earth's stratospheric ozone layer.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
I noticed that the moon was near Denebola, a bright star in the constellation Leo. Is that it, in the lower right quarter of the photo?
Thanks for the picture…it was cloudy over much of the eastern United States so we couldn’t see it.
Denebola was farther away than that. According to my Stellarium app, that’s “SAO 118953”. It ‘s much dimmer and doesn’t even have a name.
For a change I was able to view the Moon in total eclipse in an almost clear sky..I believe this was only the third I have personally viewed.Many other times the hyped eclipse was hidden by clouds.
Used binoculars and saw a light red tint at totality ,more of a rose color than the brick red remerbered from the last I viewed.
Wife and I stayed up, watched the eclipse until about 3:00 AM. Sky here in Pittsburgh was clear. No bugs. We spread a blanket over our laps. Drank some brandy.
It was a very good night.
It was perfectly clear here in NW Montana. By 23:45 the lower 1/2 of the Moon was already in shadow. I closed my eyes “for about 20 minutes” and woke up at 0530. DRAT!
Just as the photo shows, it is during a full eclipse that the moon truly appears like a globe. Not just as the shiny disc we are used to, but a huge rounded sphere.
It would be cool if we had 3 large moons so we can see the moons like this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.