Why does the shadow of the Earth during a lunar eclipse give the moon an orange-reddish appearance?

alaspooryoric

For the same reason that sunrises and sunsets or moon rises are often orange, yellow, or red. The sunlight that makes the moon visible is at some points traveling through the earth's atmosphere. The more atmosphere that the light travels through the more blue and green wavelengths are scattered, leaving the reds and yellows to travel onward. "The sunlight hits the atmosphere on the sides of Earth at a shallow angle and is carried through a lot of atmosphere until it�s redirected out onto the moon 'hiding' from direct sunlight. The red end of the spectrum is all that can get through that much interference. So the moon in total eclipse appears as an eerie, glowing copper ball in the sky". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3077347/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/why-eclipse-paints-moon-red/ Jun 16 11, 8:25 PM

evil44

According to this article, it was due to the volcanic ash in the atmoshphere. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230002-Total-Lunar-Eclipse-Turns-Moon-Blood-Red-With-Ash-From-a-Chilean-Volcano Jun 17 11, 8:38 AM

gmackematix

"Some moment when the moon was blood..." It is indeed due to different wavelengths of light (colours) being bent at different angles by the lens effect of the Earth's atmosphere. This reflects red & orange light into what would otherwise be the darkness of the shadow on the Moon caused by the Earth passing between the Moon and the Sun. In 2011, this glow was made a darker red in areas between Johannesberg and Australia by the volcanic ash. Here is the event on the BBC news... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13787341 And here are some of the live pictures that were used in the Google logo for that day. http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2079325/Lunar-Eclipse-Google-Logo-Other-Eclipse-Coverage Jun 17 11, 11:01 PM