Earthshine from Eclipse

June 02, 2006

Earthshine-composite_800

Provided and copyright by: Pete Lawrence
Summary authors & editors: Pete Lawrence

Most people have seen Earthshine at some time or other -- when the thin crescent Moon appears to be cradling the dark portion of the lunar disk. This is caused by the light from the Sun reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the unlit portion of the Moon. This phenomena is at its maximum during a total eclipse of the Sun but, as the Sun's corona is quite bright, it tends to swamp this delicate light, and thus the Moon appears like a black disk. However, with a digital camera it's possible to reveal this hidden beauty. The image above was captured on March 29 from southern Turkey and is a composite of 4 images blended together to show an eclipse like it's never been seen before. The most amazing thing is that blue colour - it's not false, this is how the image appears when stretched.

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