Why is the moon red during a lunar eclipse?

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Poseidon
 
Reply Fri 14 Nov, 2008 07:22 pm
@Poseidon,
what about them?
 
John W Kelly
 
Reply Sun 16 Nov, 2008 08:14 pm
@Poseidon,
During a partial eclipes (penumbra) we should see the diminished effects of red light.
 
Poseidon
 
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2008 04:32 pm
@Poseidon,
Aaah, I see what you are saying, I think.

The partial eclipse, as seen from the moon, would be the sun setting behind the Earth.

According to the conventional theory this is where the red light should be strongest.
According to this theory, the moon should only be red during the penumbra phase, and during the umbra phase it should be black.

However, the red light is strongest when the eclipse is full; when the Moon is completely in the Earth's shadow, and it is here that the ambient light of the surrounding universe has its strongest effect.

This therefor supports my theory, and is further evidence against the conventional theory.
 
John W Kelly
 
Reply Wed 19 Nov, 2008 06:39 pm
@Poseidon,
This seems to be a question that could be answered by spectroscopy, through which we might be able to identify the nature (and origin) of this light. I'm not very knowledgeable in this subject, but I'll poke around.
 
Poseidon
 
Reply Sun 23 Nov, 2008 11:17 am
@Poseidon,
Thats a good point, John.
I'd imagine that the lines on the spectrograph would show the light to originate from hydrogen mostly and a small amount of helium, which is what starlight would show.
 
 

 
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