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The Question
(Submitted November 05, 1997)
I would like to know why the moon turned red during a recent lunar eclipse?
The Answer
When you saw the moon turn red, it was because the light
that was hitting the moon, from the sun, had to go through the Earth's
atmosphere. The atmosphere scatters blue light more than red
light (why the sky is blue) and so what comes out the other side
is red (why sunsets are red). This reddish light bounces off the moon,
comes back to Earth and goes into your eyes.
Cheers,
Jonathan Keohane
for Ask a High-Energy Astronomer
Questions on this topic are no longer responded to by the "Ask a
High-Energy Astronomer" service. See http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/ask_an_astronomer.html
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