Explanation:
Does this look familiar?
Red and orange hues haunting the face of the
Moon might remind you of the
October 27th total lunar eclipse,
but the picture is actually a montage of images from a similar lunar
spectacle in May of 2003.
Created from exposures taken at intervals of 8.5 minutes
during the total eclipse phase, the midpoint of the eclipse
corresponds to the central exposure.
The play of light across
the lunar surface
nicely demonstrates that
the Earth's
shadow is not uniformly dark as it extends into space.
In fact, lunar maria and montes
are still visible in the dimmed,
reddened sunlight scattered into the cone-shaped shadow region,
or umbra, by the atmosphere.
Still, while processing the pictures into this composite image,
astronomer Sebastien Gauthier was reminded of another
haunting
orange face.
Have a safe and happy Halloween!
