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Astronomy Video of the Day

Time Lapse of a Total Lunar Eclipse

28 April 2014

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NASA Astronomy Video of the Day for 28 April 2014

Why would a bright full Moon suddenly become dark? Because it entered the shadow of the Earth. Almost two weeks ago this exact event happened as the Moon underwent a total lunar eclipse. That eclipse, visible from the half of the Earth then facing the Moon, was captured in numerous spectacular photographs and is depicted in the above time lapse video covering about an hour. The above video, recorded from Mt. Lemmon Sky Center in Arizona, USA, keeps the Earth shadow centered and shows the Moon moving through it from west to east. The temporarily good alignment between Earth, Moon, and Sun will show itself again tomorrow -- precisely half a moon-th (month) later -- when part of the Earth will pass through part of the new Moon's shadow. APOD Collection: Pleiades Star Cluster (highlighted recently on Cosmos)

Video and explanation courtesy of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day