Red Moon, Oct. 27, 2004

I was archiving my old photos and came through this one, taken on Oct. 27, 2004 during a total lunar eclipse. This was the natural color of the Moon during the totality of the eclipse when it was moving through the Earth's shadow. Guess what? The Earth's shadow is not completely dark! The reddish hue of the Moon was caused by the sunlight scattered and refracted by the Earth's atmosphere.

That night, the Boston Red Sox became the World Series Champion after 86 years. And I also became a baseball fan in the last two weeks of that season.


The moon before the eclipse:




Now a professional shot of the red moon:

Red Moon Triple
Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak