![zetetic astronomy lunar eclipse shadow zetetic astronomy lunar eclipse shadow](https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/image/chp%3A10.1007%2F978-1-4939-1664-1_32/MediaObjects/270314_1_En_32_Fig1_HTML.png)
Now as the shadow on the moon during an eclipse is supposed to be the round Earths shadow and keeping in mind that the moon is setting how is it possible to have the shadow coming in from the top? ( 1 )Ī few things that i would like to point out.Īt 1:49 or on the below left image it can clearly be seen that the shadow is coming over the moon from the top left hand side.Īt 1:54 or the below right images the sun is just coming up over the horizon and as can be seen during the video pan, orientated 180 degrees to the moon.
![zetetic astronomy lunar eclipse shadow zetetic astronomy lunar eclipse shadow](https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2012/spacecraftca.gif)
And keep in mind that this holds only for the uneclipsed portion of the moon. So, depending on the clarity of your sky, you might have up to roughly 10 or 15 minutes before sunrise for the sky to still be dark enough, and the moon to be high enough above any horizon haze for it to be clearly visible.
#Zetetic astronomy lunar eclipse shadow full#
Twenty-five years ago, in the August 1989 issue of Sky & Telescope, Bradley Schaefer, an astronomer who extensively studied the visibility of the moon when it was low in the sky, noted that the full moon only becomes visible when it is about 2 degrees up and the sun is about 2 degrees below the horizon. Sighting a Selenelion might be problematic feat. Īlthough the moon is in the Earth’s umbra, the Sun and the eclipsed Moon can both be seen at the same time because the refraction of light through the Earth’s atmosphere causes each of them to appear higher in the sky than their true geometric position ( 1 ) This arrangement has led to the phenomenon being referred to as a horizontal eclipse. thus the opportunity exists to see both the moon and the sun during the Eclipse. This allows people on Earth to see the sun for several extra minutes before it actually has risen and the moon for several extra minutes after it has actually set…. In an alignment like this (called a “ syzygy”), such an observation would seem impossible.īut thanks to Earth’s atmosphere, the images of both the sun and moon are apparently lifted above the horizon by Atmospheric refraction. A Selenelion ( 1 )Eclipse is a rare event where the moon and the rising sun can be seen simultaneously.ĭuring a lunar eclipse, the sun and moon are exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky.