Earth and the Moon


Why is the Moon still visible during totality of a lunar eclipse?

Earth’s atmosphere is dense enough to act a little bit like a lens, so it refracts a small amount of sunlight shining through it toward the Moon. This small fraction of light, which is mostly red because that is the color of light that refracts best, bounces off the Moon’s surface and comes back to Earth. Before and after totality, the direct sunlight reflected off the Moon is so strong by comparison that it drowns out this refracted light, so we normally cannot see it with our unaided eyes. During totality, however, the Earth-atmosphere-refracted light is quite visible as a soft reddish glow.

