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Red Moon of Ontario

By Hamish Johnston

My old friend John Shymko has posted some lovely photos of a very red eclipsed Moon that he took early this morning in southern Ontario.

The Earth is blocking direct sunlight from reaching the Moon, which is instead illuminated by sunlight that has scattered through the Earth’s atmosphere. This is what gives the Moon its lovely red colour.

Indeed, consulting NASA’s entry on the Danjon scale I’d say that John’s Moon scores full marks at L=4. This means that John saw a full umbral eclipse.

Posted by Hamish Johnston on Dec 21, 2010 10:38 AM | Permalink