Lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened.^[1] Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth's orbit.

This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, which can happen only on the night of a full moon when the Moon is near either lunar node. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon's proximity to the lunar node.^{[citation needed]}

When the Moon is totally eclipsed by the Earth (a "deep eclipse"),^[2]^[3] it takes on a reddish color that is caused by the planet when it completely blocks direct sunlight from reaching the Moon's surface, as the only light that is reflected from the lunar surface is what has been refracted by the Earth's atmosphere. This light appears reddish due to the Rayleigh scattering of blue light, the same reason sunrises and sunsets are more orange than during the day.

Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Also, unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions.

The symbol for a lunar eclipse (or indeed, any body in the shadow of another) is

(U+1F776 🝶).

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We humans of planet Earth benefit from a great coincidence. It’s a coincidence of time, and of space. And of math. The coincidence is this: the Sun is about 400 times wider than the Moon, and it’s also on average about 400 times farther away than the Moon. The apparent size of an object in the sky depends on how big it is and how far away it is... so these numbers being equal means the Sun and the Moon appear to be about the same size in the sky. And that’s where another interesting thing comes in: Sometimes, the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. It doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, you get magic. Or even better: You get SCIENCE. You get an eclipse. An eclipse is a generic term in astronomy for when one object passes into the shadow of another object, darkening or blocking it. A solar eclipse is when the Moon blocks the Sun, casting a shadow on the Earth, and a lunar eclipse is when the Earth blocks the Sun, casting a shadow on the Moon. But how do they work? Well, the Moon orbits the Earth once per month, and the Earth orbits the Sun once per year. If the Moon’s orbit were perfectly aligned with the Earth’s, essentially sharing the same plane, we’d get a solar eclipse every new Moon and a lunar eclipse every full Moon! But we don’t. That’s because the Moon’s orbit is tilted with respect to Earth’s, by about 5°. What that means is that, at new Moon, the Moon can be as much as 5° away from the Sun, passing “above” or “below” the Sun in the sky, thereby missing it, from our perspective. But sometimes the Moon is in the right place at the right time, and at new Moon, it lies perfectly in line between the Sun and the Earth. And when that happens, we get a solar eclipse. This geometry happens at least twice per year, and sometimes as much as five times per year. What’s happening physically in space is that the Moon is casting a long shadow. Usually that shadow misses the Earth, but during an eclipse the Moon’s shadow falls on the Earth’s surface. In fact, there are two shadows from the Moon, one inside the other. One is a narrow cone, tapering to a point away from the Moon. If you’re anywhere physically inside this cone, the Moon appears big enough to completely block the Sun. That means this shadow is very dark, and we call it the umbra (which is Latin for – you guessed it – “shadow”). Outside of this deep umbral shadow is a wider conical region where, if you’re in it, the Sun is only partially blocked; you can still see some of the Sun past the Moon. You’re getting less light, and so you’re technically shadowed, but it’s not quite as dark as the umbra. This region is called the “penumbra”; “pen” in this case for Latin meaning “almost,” or “nearly.” When the umbra touches the Earth, we get a total solar eclipse. But what does that look like from the ground? You don’t get a total eclipse right away. First, the edge of the Moon slips in front of the Sun, and we see a little dip in the Sun’s limb, its edge as seen from Earth (that’s the start of the penumbra sweeping over you). As the Moon slowly moves, that dip grows, becoming a bite. The Sun becomes a thick crescent, then a thin one. As the Sun becomes an ever-thinner crescent, the sky begins to darken. Then, finally, the Moon’s black disk completely covers the Sun — the umbra sweeps over your location. And at that moment, totality begins. You might think that this just means the sky gets dark, and it’s like night outside for a while. But a total eclipse is far more than that. And that’s because of the Sun’s corona. As I’ll cover in more detail in a future episode, the corona is the sun’s atmosphere, an ethereally thin envelope of gas that stretches from the Sun’s surface into space for millions of kilometers. It’s really faint, and therefore usually completely overwhelmed by the intensely bright light from the Sun. But when the Moon blocks the Sun’s face, the corona becomes visible. It surrounds the Sun, filaments and tendrils extending into the sky, an incredibly beautiful sight. I know many people who have said it’s the most spectacular thing they have ever seen. And there’s more. The Moon’s edge isn’t smooth — there are craters and other depressions. Craters right at the Moon’s edge allow sunlight to stream past. We see these as bright patches around the eclipsed Sun, which are called Baily’s Beads - because they were first described by English astronomer Francis Baily in 1836! Because the Moon and Sun are very nearly the same apparent size, totality is brief. The longest it can last is only about seven or eight minutes. That’s how long it takes the umbra to move over one spot on the Earth. When totality ends, and the Moon starts to move off of the Sun’s face, for a moment just a single spot of the Sun is unblocked, glowing fiercely on one side of the Moon. Sometimes you can get a circle of light around the Moon’s surface, and together with the bright spot it looks like a celestial wedding ring. In fact, this is called the Diamond Ring effect. Then, inexorably, the Moon pulls away from the Sun, and the order of events is reversed. The umbra is gone, but you’re still in the penumbral shadow. The Sun shows a thin crescent, then a thick one, then a dip in its side… and then it’s all over. The umbral shadow of the Moon is pretty small where it hits the Earth, so a total eclipse is a local event. If you’re too far north and south, you don’t get a total eclipse, you only get a partial one. Which is still cool, but lacks the mystique of a total eclipse. Remember too that the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is an ellipse. That means sometimes it’s closer to the Earth, and sometimes farther. If a solar eclipse happens when the Moon is at the far end of its orbit, it can actually be smaller than the Sun in the sky. It doesn’t block the entire face of the Sun, and it leaves a ring of light around the black circle of the Moon. This technical name for this shape is annulus, so this event is called an annular eclipse. A lot of people think if you look at a total solar eclipse you can go permanently and completely blind. That’s really not true. But, some parts of eclipse-watching are more dangerous than others. I mean, obviously it’s not a good idea to stand there and stare at the sun. Looking at even the uneclipsed Sun for more than a moment is painful, and that pain is the result of the damage that solar radiation is doing to your retinas. So I don’t recommend it — Duh. But when viewing an eclipse, the real concern is right after totality ends. During totality it’s dark, so your pupils have dilated to let more light in. But then there’s the flash of sunlight when the Moon moves off, and that’s intense enough to damage your retinas. That’s why astronomers recommend extreme caution when viewing an eclipse; because that flash can catch you by surprise. When viewing the Sun, don’t just stand there and stare at it; you should always have eye protection. And make sure you have safety-approved filters; don’t try the the home-made tricks you might have heard of -- like looking through an old CD or DVD, or using old-style camera film as a filter. These can let through too much infrared and ultraviolet light, and again can dilate your pupils, actually making things worse. Lots of companies make inexpensive filters that are great for Sun-spotting; we have links in dooblydoo for more information on eye safety. Now, you don’t have to worry about hurting your eyes at all when viewing a lunar eclipse. Because, in that case, it’s the Earth that blocks the Sun, and the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon. So go nuts. But one big difference between the two kinds of eclipses is who can see them. A solar eclipse is localized to one spot on the Earth, or really a swath along the ground as the Moon’s umbral shadow sweeps across the Earth’s surface. But a lunar eclipse is when the Moon moves into Earth’s shadow, so anyone on Earth facing the Moon can see a lunar eclipse. This is why I’ve seen dozens of lunar eclipses but never a total solar one. I’ve never been at the right place at the right time. Not that I’m bitter. The Earth has umbral and penumbral shadows, too. When the Moon first enters the Earth’s penumbra, the dimming is so slight you hardly notice it. But as the Moon moves deeper into the penumbra, it starts to darken. Sometimes it changes color, turning a deep orange or blood red. That’s because the Earth is starting to block the sunlight heading toward the moon, and the only light that gets through is coming through the thickest part of our atmosphere. This blocks blue and green light, leaving only red to come through. That’s why the Moon and Sun look red to us when they’re on the horizon, rising and setting, too. When you look upon the red eclipsed Moon, you’re seeing the light from all the sunrises and sunsets in the world hitting the Moon and reflecting back to us. Finally, the Moon starts to enter the Earth’s umbra, and the real eclipse begins. At first it looks like a bite is taken out of it — that curving arc is the shadow of the edge of the Earth! The Moon moves deeper and deeper into the shadow until it’s completely darkened. The Earth is bigger than the Moon, so the Earth’s umbra is much wider; while a solar eclipse is over in minutes, a total lunar eclipse can last nearly two hours. I once saw a lunar eclipse so deep that it took me a minute to find the Moon in the sky! There’s not a lot of new science you can do with a lunar eclipse. But if you know a little geometry, you can use the size and shape of the Earth’s shadow on the Moon to get the relative sizes of the Earth and Moon. Ancient Greeks did just this, and got a number that wasn’t too far off. They also knew how big the Earth was using other methods, and so they had a decent estimate for the size of the Moon…nearly 2000 years before the invention of the telescope! They also knew the shape of the Earth’s shadow was always a circle, which only makes sense if the Earth were a sphere. If the Earth were flat, it would sometimes cast a thin shadow, but it never does. Pretty clever, those ancient Greeks. One final note. Because of tides from the Earth — which we’ll learn more about in detail in a later episode — the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth, by about 4 centimeters a year. As it recedes, it’s slowly getting smaller in the sky. This means that, eventually, it will be too far away to completely cover the Sun, and we won’t get any more total eclipses. Doing the rough math, that will be in about a billion years. Better watch eclipses while you can. Today you learned that a solar eclipse is when the Moon blocks the Sun so its shadow falls on the Earth, and a lunar eclipse is when the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon. We don’t get them every two weeks because the Moon’s orbit is tilted. And if you’re clever, you can use lunar eclipses to figure out how big the Earth and Moon are. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. The latest version of their platform, Squarespace Seven, has a completely redesigned interface, integrations with Getty Images and Google Apps, new templates, and a new feature called Cover Pages. Try Squarespace at Squarespace.com, and enter the code Crash Course at checkout for a special offer. Squarespace. Start Here. Go Anywhere. Crash Course Astronomy is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios. Head on over to their channel and discover more awesome videos. This episode was written by me, Phil Plait. The script was edited by Blake de Pastino, and our consultant is Dr. Michelle Thaller. It was co-directed by Nicholas Jenkins and Michael Aranda, edited by Nicole Sweeney, and the graphics team is Thought Café.

Types of lunar eclipse

Earth's shadow can be divided into two distinctive parts: the umbra and penumbra.^[4] Earth totally occludes direct solar radiation within the umbra, the central region of the shadow. However, since the Sun's diameter appears to be about one-quarter of Earth's in the lunar sky, the planet only partially blocks direct sunlight within the penumbra, the outer portion of the shadow.

Penumbral lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon passes into the Earth's penumbra.^[5] No part of the moon is in the Earth's umbra during this event. The penumbra causes a subtle dimming of the lunar surface, which is only visible to the naked eye when about 70% of the Moon's diameter has immersed into Earth's penumbra.^[6] A special type of penumbral eclipse is a total penumbral lunar eclipse, during which the entire Moon lies exclusively within Earth's penumbra. Total penumbral eclipses are rare, and when these occur, the portion of the Moon closest to the umbra may appear slightly darker than the rest of the lunar disk.

Partial lunar eclipse

When the Moon penetrates partially into the Earth's umbra, it is known as a partial lunar eclipse,^[5] while a total lunar eclipse occurs when the entire Moon enters the Earth's umbra. During this event, one part of the moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in the Earth's penumbra. The Moon's average orbital speed is about 1.03 km/s (2,300 mph), or a little more than its diameter per hour, so totality may last up to nearly 107 minutes. Nevertheless, the total time between the first and last contacts of the Moon's limb with Earth's shadow is much longer and could last up to 236 minutes.^[7]

Total lunar eclipse

If the Moon entirely passes into the Earth's umbra, a total lunar eclipse occurs.^[5] Just prior to complete entry, the brightness of the lunar limb—the curved edge of the Moon still being hit by direct sunlight—will cause the rest of the Moon to appear comparatively dim. The moment the Moon enters a complete eclipse, the entire surface will become more or less uniformly bright. Later, as the Moon's opposite limb is struck by sunlight, the overall disk will again become obscured. This is because, as viewed from the Earth, the brightness of a lunar limb is generally greater than that of the rest of the surface due to reflections from the many surface irregularities within the limb: sunlight striking these irregularities is always reflected back in greater quantities than that striking more central parts, which is why the edges of full moons generally appear brighter than the rest of the lunar surface. This is similar to the effect of velvet fabric over a convex curved surface, which, to an observer, will appear darkest at the center of the curve. It will be true of any planetary body with little or no atmosphere and an irregular cratered surface (e.g., Mercury) when viewed opposite the Sun.^[8]

Central lunar eclipse

Central lunar eclipse is a total lunar eclipse during which the Moon passes through the centre of Earth's shadow, contacting the antisolar point.^[9] This type of lunar eclipse is relatively rare.

The relative distance of the Moon from Earth at the time of an eclipse can affect the eclipse's duration. In particular, when the Moon is near apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, its orbital speed is the slowest. The diameter of Earth's umbra does not decrease appreciably within the changes in the Moon's orbital distance. Thus, the concurrence of a totally eclipsed Moon near apogee will lengthen the duration of totality.

Selenelion

A selenelion or selenehelion, also called a horizontal eclipse, occurs where and when both the Sun and an eclipsed Moon can be observed at the same time. The event can only be observed just before sunset or just after sunrise, when both bodies will appear just above opposite horizons at nearly opposite points in the sky. A selenelion occurs during every total lunar eclipse—it is an experience of the observer, not a planetary event separate from the lunar eclipse itself. Typically, observers on Earth located on high mountain ridges undergoing false sunrise or false sunset at the same moment of a total lunar eclipse will be able to experience it. Although during selenelion the Moon is completely within the Earth's umbra, both it and the Sun can be observed in the sky because atmospheric refraction causes each body to appear higher (i.e., more central) in the sky than its true geometric planetary position.^[11]

Timing

The timing of total lunar eclipses is determined by what are known as its "contacts" (moments of contact with Earth's shadow):^[12]

P1 (First contact): Beginning of the penumbral eclipse. Earth's penumbra touches the Moon's outer limb.
U1 (Second contact): Beginning of the partial eclipse. Earth's umbra touches the Moon's outer limb.
U2 (Third contact): Beginning of the total eclipse. The Moon's surface is entirely within Earth's umbra.
Greatest eclipse: The peak stage of the total eclipse. The Moon is at its closest to the center of Earth's umbra.
U3 (Fourth contact): End of the total eclipse. The Moon's outer limb exits Earth's umbra.
U4 (Fifth contact): End of the partial eclipse. Earth's umbra leaves the Moon's surface.
P4 (Sixth contact): End of the penumbral eclipse. Earth's penumbra no longer makes contact with the Moon.

Danjon scale

The following scale (the Danjon scale) was devised by André Danjon for rating the overall darkness of lunar eclipses:^[13]

L = 0: Very dark eclipse. Moon almost invisible, especially at mid-totality.
L = 1: Dark eclipse, gray or brownish in coloration. Details distinguishable only with difficulty.
L = 2: Deep red or rust-colored eclipse. Very dark central shadow, while outer edge of umbra is relatively bright.
L = 3: Brick-red eclipse. Umbral shadow usually has a bright or yellow rim.
L = 4: Very bright copper-red or orange eclipse. Umbral shadow is bluish and has a very bright rim.

Lunar versus solar eclipse

There is often confusion between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse. While both involve interactions between the Sun, Earth, and the Moon, they are very different in their interactions.

The Moon does not completely darken as it passes through the umbra because of the refraction of sunlight by Earth's atmosphere into the shadow cone; if Earth had no atmosphere, the Moon would be completely dark during the eclipse.^[14] The reddish coloration arises because sunlight reaching the Moon must pass through a long and dense layer of Earth's atmosphere, where it is scattered. Shorter wavelengths are more likely to be scattered by the air molecules and small particles; thus, the longer wavelengths predominate by the time the light rays have penetrated the atmosphere. Human vision perceives this resulting light as red. This is the same effect that causes sunsets and sunrises to turn the sky a reddish color. An alternative way of conceiving this scenario is to realize that, as viewed from the Moon, the Sun would appear to be setting (or rising) behind Earth.

The amount of refracted light depends on the amount of dust or clouds in the atmosphere; this also controls how much light is scattered. In general, the dustier the atmosphere, the more that other wavelengths of light will be removed (compared to red light), leaving the resulting light a deeper red color. This causes the resulting coppery-red hue of the Moon to vary from one eclipse to the next. Volcanoes are notable for expelling large quantities of dust into the atmosphere, and a large eruption shortly before an eclipse can have a large effect on the resulting color.

Lunar eclipse in culture

Several cultures have myths related to lunar eclipses or allude to the lunar eclipse as being a good or bad omen. The Egyptians saw the eclipse as a sow swallowing the Moon for a short time; other cultures view the eclipse as the Moon being swallowed by other animals, such as a jaguar in Mayan tradition, or a mythical three-legged toad known as Chan Chu in China.^{[citation needed]} Some societies thought it was a demon swallowing the Moon, and that they could chase it away by throwing stones and curses at it.^[15] The Ancient Greeks correctly believed the Earth was round and used the shadow from the lunar eclipse as evidence.^[16] Some Hindus believe in the importance of bathing in the Ganges River following an eclipse because it will help to achieve salvation.^[17]

Inca

Similarly to the Mayans, the Incans believed that lunar eclipses occurred when a jaguar ate the Moon, which is why a blood moon looks red. The Incans also believed that once the jaguar finished eating the Moon, it could come down and devour all the animals on Earth, so they would take spears and shout at the Moon to keep it away.^[18]

Mesopotamians

The ancient Mesopotamians believed that a lunar eclipse was when the Moon was being attacked by seven demons. This attack was more than just one on the Moon, however, for the Mesopotamians linked what happened in the sky with what happened on the land, and because the king of Mesopotamia represented the land, the seven demons were thought to be also attacking the king. In order to prevent this attack on the king, the Mesopotamians made someone pretend to be the king so they would be attacked instead of the true king. After the lunar eclipse was over, the substitute king was made to disappear (possibly by poisoning).^[18]

Chinese

In some Chinese cultures, people would ring bells to prevent a dragon or other wild animals from biting the Moon.^[19] In the 19th century, during a lunar eclipse, the Chinese navy fired its artillery because of this belief.^[20] During the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046–256 BC) in the Book of Songs, the sight of a Red Moon engulfed in darkness was believed to foreshadow famine or disease.^[21]

Blood moon

Certain lunar eclipses have been referred to as "blood moons" in popular articles but this is not a scientifically recognized term.^[22] This term has been given two separate, but overlapping, meanings.

The meaning usually relates to the reddish color a totally eclipsed Moon takes on to observers on Earth.^[23] As sunlight penetrates the atmosphere of Earth, the gaseous layer filters and refracts the rays in such a way that the green to violet wavelengths on the visible spectrum scatter more strongly than the red, thus giving the Moon a reddish cast.^[24] This is possible because the rays from the Sun are able to wrap around the Earth and reflect off the Moon.^[25]

Occurrence

At least two lunar eclipses and as many as five occur every year, although total lunar eclipses are significantly less common than partial lunar eclipses. If the date and time of an eclipse is known, the occurrences of upcoming eclipses are predictable using an eclipse cycle, like the saros. Eclipses occur only during an eclipse season, when the Sun appears to pass near either node of the Moon's orbit.

View from the Moon

A lunar eclipse is on the Moon a solar eclipse. The occurrence makes Earth's atmosphere appear as a red ring around the dark Earth. During full moon, the phase when lunar eclipses take place, the dark side of the Earth is illuminated by the Moon and its moon light.

References

^ McClure, Bruce (27 July 2018). "Century's Longest Lunar Eclipse July 27". EarthSky. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
^ Staff (2023). "PHYS 1350 Astronomy Exam 3 (TXST-Olson)". Quizlet. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023. "What is a deep eclipse? The smaller star is behind the bigger star"
^ Miller, A.M.; et al. (7 November 2023). "ATel #16328 - ASASSN-23ht: A Deep Eclipse Event". The Astronomer's Telegram. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
^ Link 1969, p. 1.
^ ^a ^b ^c Link 1969, p. 2.
^ H. Mucke, J. Meeus (1992). Canon of Lunar Eclipses -2002 to +2526 (3rd ed.). Astronomisches Büro Wien. p. V.
^ Karttunen, Hannu (2007). Fundamental Astronomy. Springer. p. 139. ISBN 9783540341444.
^ "Lunar Limb Magic". Astronomy.com. 27 November 2018.
^ Westfall, John; Sheehan, William (2014). Celestial Shadows: Eclipses, Transits, and Occultations. Springer. p. 50. ISBN 978-1493915354.
^ "Day and Night World Map". www.timeanddate.com. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
^ Kelly Beatty (26 June 2010). "In Search of Selenelion". Sky & Telescope. Archived from the original on 20 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
^ Clarke, Kevin. "On the nature of eclipses". Inconstant Moon. Cyclopedia Selenica. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
^ Deans, Paul; MacRobert, Alan M. (16 July 2006). "Observing and Photographing Lunar Eclipses". Sky & Telescope. F+W. Archived from the original on 20 May 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2007.
^ Espenak, Fred; Meeus, Jean. "Visual Appearance of Lunar Eclipses". NASA. The troposphere and stratosphere act together as a ring-shaped lens that refracts heavily reddened sunlight into Earth's umbral shadow.
^ Littmann, Mark; Espenak, Fred; Willcox, Ken (2008). "Chapter 4: Eclipses in Mythology". Totality Eclipses of the Sun (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-953209-4.
^ Pollack, Rebecca. "Ancient Myths Revised with Lunar Eclipse". University of Maryland. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ Ani. "Hindus take a dip in the Ganges during Lunar Eclipse". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ ^a ^b Lee, Jane (14 April 2014). "Lunar Eclipse Myths From Around the World". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
^ Quilas, Ma Evelyn. "Interesting Facts and Myths about Lunar Eclipse". LA Times. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ "Mythology of the Lunar Eclipse". LifeAsMyth.com.
^ Kaul, Gayatri (15 June 2011). "What Lunar Eclipse Means in Different Parts of the World". India.com. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
^ Sappenfield, Mark (13 April 2014). "Blood Moon to arrive Monday night. What is a Blood Moon?". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
^ Nigro, Nicholas (2010). Knack Night Sky: Decoding the Solar System, from Constellations to Black Holes. Globe Pequot. pp. 214–5. ISBN 978-0-7627-6604-8.
^ "All you need to know about the 'blood moon'". theguardian. 28 September 2015.
^ Jeanna, Bryner (13 May 2022). "Why does the moon turn red during a total lunar eclipse?". Space.com. Retrieved 5 January 2023.

Works cited

Link, F. (1969). "Lunar Eclipses". Eclipse Phenomena in Astronomy. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 1–121. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-86475-9. ISBN 978-3-642-86475-9. LCCN 68-56208. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

External links

Lunar Eclipse Essentials: video from NASA
Animated explanation of the mechanics of a lunar eclipse Archived 2013-06-03 at the Wayback Machine, University of South Wales
U.S. Navy Lunar Eclipse Computer Archived 2011-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
NASA Lunar Eclipse Page
Search among the 12,064 lunar eclipses over five millennium and display interactive maps
Lunar Eclipses for Beginners
Tips on photographing the lunar eclipse from New York Institute of Photography Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
Lunar Eclipse 08 October 2014 - NASA FULL VERSION on YouTube

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Outline
Physical properties	Internal structure Topography Atmosphere Gravity field Hill sphere Magnetic field Sodium tail Moonlight Earthshine
Orbit	Lunar distance Orbital elements Distance Perigee and apogee Libration Nodes Nodal period Precession Syzygy New moon Full moon Eclipses Lunar eclipse Total penumbral lunar eclipse Tetrad Solar eclipse Solar eclipses on the Moon Eclipse cycle Supermoon Tide Tidal force Tidal locking Tidal acceleration Tidal range Lunar station
Surface and features	Selenography Terminator Limb Hemispheres Near side Far side Poles North pole South pole Face Maria List Mountains Peak of eternal light Valleys Volcanic features Domes Calderas Lava tubes Craters List Ray systems Permanently shadowed craters South Pole–Aitken basin Soil swirls Rilles Wrinkle ridges Rocks Lunar basalt 70017 Changesite-(Y) Water Space weathering Micrometeorite Sputtering Quakes Transient lunar phenomenon Selenographic coordinate system
Science	Observation Libration Lunar theory Origin Giant-impact hypothesis Theia Lunar magma ocean Geology Timescale Late Heavy Bombardment Lunar meteorites KREEP Volcanism Experiments Lunar laser ranging ALSEP Lunar sample displays Apollo 11 Apollo 17 Lunar seismology
Exploration	Missions Apollo program Explorers Probes Landing Colonization Moonbase Tourism Lunar resources
Time-telling and navigation	Lunar calendar Lunisolar calendar Month Lunar month Nodal period Fortnight Sennight Lunar station Lunar distance
Phases and names	New Full Names Crescent Super and micro Blood Blue Black Dark Wet Tetrad
Daily phenomena	Moonrise Meridian passage Moonset
Related	Lunar deities Lunar effect Earth phase Moon illusion Pareidolia Man in the Moon Moon rabbit Craters named after people Artificial objects on the Moon Memorials on the Moon Moon in science fiction list Apollo era futuristic exploration Hollow Moon Moon landing conspiracy theories Moon Treaty "Moon is made of green cheese" Natural satellite Double planet Lilith (hypothetical second moon) Splitting of the Moon Sailor Moon
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