I took a bunch of pictures of the lunar eclipse last night. Here's a few of them. (Click on the images for a larger view.)
First one was taken at 02:35 UT (8:35 central time) and is the moment when the Moon first entered the Earth's penumbral shadow.
You cannot tell at all! It just looks like the full Moon!
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Then at 03:34 UT (9:34 Central time) you can easily see the Earth's shadow starting to darken the disk of the Moon from the bottom up. This is when the Moon enters the umbral shadow of the Earth and partiality officially began...
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Then at 04:00 UT (!0:00 Central), the Moon is a little less than half way into the Earth's dark shadow...
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And finally, at 05:12 UT (11:12 Central time), this is mid-eclipse. This is as dark as the Moon got. It didn't pass through the dead center of Earth's shadow and so one edge of the moon was a bit brighter than the rest. The red color comes from the Sun light refracting through Earth's atmosphere. It's red for the exact same reason that the sunrise and sunset is red. In fact, what you are seeing is eccentrically sunrise/sunset light being reflected by the Moon.
Notice that the sky got dark enough for the camera to pick up a few stars in the background.
View attachment 26700
First one was taken at 02:35 UT (8:35 central time) and is the moment when the Moon first entered the Earth's penumbral shadow.
You cannot tell at all! It just looks like the full Moon!
View attachment 26696
Then at 03:34 UT (9:34 Central time) you can easily see the Earth's shadow starting to darken the disk of the Moon from the bottom up. This is when the Moon enters the umbral shadow of the Earth and partiality officially began...
View attachment 26698
Then at 04:00 UT (!0:00 Central), the Moon is a little less than half way into the Earth's dark shadow...
View attachment 26699
And finally, at 05:12 UT (11:12 Central time), this is mid-eclipse. This is as dark as the Moon got. It didn't pass through the dead center of Earth's shadow and so one edge of the moon was a bit brighter than the rest. The red color comes from the Sun light refracting through Earth's atmosphere. It's red for the exact same reason that the sunrise and sunset is red. In fact, what you are seeing is eccentrically sunrise/sunset light being reflected by the Moon.
Notice that the sky got dark enough for the camera to pick up a few stars in the background.
View attachment 26700
