Lunar Eclipse (8/28)

A lunar eclipse took place on August 28, 2007 and is much different than a solar eclipse. Solar eclipses are caused by the Moon's shadow crossing the Earth, and since the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, the event does not occur planet-wide. A lunar eclipse, on the other hand, can be seen from anywhere on Earth that has a view of the Moon at the time of the eclipse.

An oberver on the Moon during a total lunar eclipse would also see the entire sun blocked out by the Earth from pretty much the entire surface within view of the Earth. The Earth's atmosphere also adds the red tint to the edges of the shadow of a lunar eclipse due to the scattering / filtering of sunlight.



Above is two pictures taken during the pre-dawn morning of August 28, 2007 in South Florida of the full lunar eclipse. To the left, a commercial airliner, leaves a trail of lights as it crosses the camera's view during a time exposure. To the right, the partial light refracted by the earth's shadow paints the face of the moon a red color.