NASA On Air: Lunar Eclipse April 4, 2015 at 4:58 AM PDT (4/4/2015)

  • Released Friday, April 3, 2015
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LEAD: Early risers on Saturday morning (April 4, 2015) will have a chance to see the shortest total lunar eclipse of the century.

  1. The moon will turn red as it crosses the earth’s long shadow for less than five minutes.

  2. Why is the moon red rather than dark if it is in the earth’s shadow?

  3. Turns out the earth’s atmosphere acts as a filter and a prism.

  4. Similar to a sunset, the light becomes red.

  5. The earth’s atmospheric 'lens' bends this red light only slightly, which is enough to bask the 2000-mile diameter moon in red light.

  6. The lunar eclipse starts at 4:58 AM Pacific Daylight Time.


    TAG: Best viewing will be in the Western United States, early Saturday morning. The next total eclipse is not until September 2015.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/eclipse

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Friday, April 3, 2015.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:49 PM EDT.