Eclipse07

Total Eclipse of the Moon on 3rd March 2007

During an eclipse of the moon, the moon enters the Earth's shadow. As the diagram shows, this

shadow has a dark, 'umbral' inner region and a lighter outer 'penumbral' region. The umbral shadow

is where the Earth's disk blocks all rays of light from the Sun. The

penumbral shadow is where only some of the Sun's rays can get

past the Earth's edge. If an astronaut stood in the umbral shadow they

would see the Earth blocking the whole of the Sun's disk. If they stood

in the penumbral shadow they would see the Earth blocking part of the Sun's disk. You would have

thought, therefore, that the moon would completely vanish when it passes into the dark umbral

shadow, but it does not! Instead the moon often shows a beautiful red or copper colouration. This is

caused by light being refracted by the Earth's atmosphere onto the moon. Blue light is scattered most

by particles in the Earth's atmosphere, leaving predominantly red light to weakly illuminate the

eclipsed moon.

Here is a brief summary of the particular circumstances of the 3rd March 2007 eclipse and may

assist in helping you to interpret the various images that follow.

Images before totality with ancient Nikon 885 digital camera through Orion 80mm ED Apo refractor

and 28mm eyepiece:-

20:54:58 UT

21:13:09 UT

21:16:35 UT

21:23:20 UT

21:24:13 UT

21:30:58 UT

21:53:18 UT

22:02:09 UT

22:12:05 UT

Images during totality using an Olpmpus OM2N SLR on my 20cm Meade LX200 SCT @ F6.3.

Elitechrome 200 transparency film, scanned with Nikon LS-2000:-