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Credit & Copyright: Oshin Zakarian
(TWAN)
Explanation:
This surreal, wintry scene
is a composite picture
recorded
on December 10 as the Moon
rose behind the Zagros Mountains of Iran.
A total lunar eclipse was already
in progress.
The image combines nearly 500 successive frames taken
over 1.5 hours beginning
in twilight as the eclipsed Moon steadily
climbed above the rugged landscape.
The reddened lunar disk and deep blue twilight make for a striking
contrast, yet the contrasting colors have the same root cause.
The eclipsed Moon is red because the
Earth's
umbral shadow is suffused with
a faint red light.
The ruddy illumination is from all the
reddened sunsets and sunrises, as seen from a
lunar perspective.
But the sunsets and sunrises are reddened because
the Earth's atmosphere
scatters blue
light more strongly
than red, creating the twilight sky's dim, blue glow.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: lunar eclipse - twilight - shadow
Publications with words: lunar eclipse - twilight - shadow
See also:
- APOD: 2025 March 25 B A Blue Banded Blood Moon
- Eclipse Pair
- APOD: 2024 April 23 B Contrail Shadow X
- APOD: 2024 February 11 B Rocket Plume Shadow Points to the Moon
- APOD: 2024 January 22 B Shadows of Mountain and Moon
- APOD: 2023 October 29 B A Partial Lunar Eclipse
- APOD: 2023 May 9 B Shadows of Earth