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image credit & copyright: Peter Ward (Barden Ridge Observatory)



the reddened shadow of planet Earth plays across the lunar disk in this telescopic image taken on may 26 near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

on that crisp, clear autumn night a Perigee Full Moon slid through the northern edge of the shadow's dark central umbra

short for a lunar eclipse, its total phase lasted only about 14 minutes

the Earth's shadow was not completely dark though

instead it was suffused with a faint red light from all the planet's sunsets and sunrises seen from the perspective of an eclipsed Moon, the reddened sunlight scattered by Earth's atmosphere

the HDR composite of 6 exposures also shows the wide range of brightness variations within Earth's umbral shadow against a faint background of stars









































in apod.nasa.gov/apod