Hubble image archive

Geometry of a Lunar Eclipse (Artist's Illustration)

This diagram explains the geometry of the lunar eclipse.When the Moon is entirely in the Earth's umbra (known as a total lunar eclipse or umbral eclipse), all sunlight reaching the lunar surface has been refracted or scattered through Earth's atmosphere. When the Moon is in Earth...

Date
Jan 1, 2020
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2020-30-4716-image
By

This diagram explains the geometry of the lunar eclipse.

When the Moon is entirely in the Earth's umbra (known as a total lunar eclipse or umbral eclipse), all sunlight reaching the lunar surface has been refracted or scattered through Earth's atmosphere. When the Moon is in Earth's penumbra (known as a penumbral eclipse), illumination comes from both direct sunlight and sunlight refracted and scattered through the planet's atmosphere. This process is similar to an exoplanet transit observation.

Credits

M. Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble), NASA, and ESA

Share

Source

Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

View on NASA.gov

Google Preferred Sources

See more from Space Telescope in Google

Choose Space Telescope as a preferred source to make our mission news, visual reporting, and independent explainers easier to find in Google Search.