The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #134352 Message #3060275
Posted By: Sandy Mc Lean
23-Dec-10 - 05:03 PM
Thread Name: 1st solstice/lunar eclipse in 500 years
Subject: RE: Lunar Eclipse
The apple on the table would be lit by reflected light from walls and other objects.
In this case the moon is totally in the shadow of the Earth and there are no nearby objects to reflect light back to the moon. What happens is that the atmosphere of the Earth acts as a prism and it bends the light from the sun. It bends the lower frequency (red) light more, so those rays fall on the moon but the higher frequency light misses it and passes by. The red rays are reflected back to Earth making the moon appear red.