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PHOTOS: New lunar eclipse is physically "impossible"

The moon turns red and orange during a total lunar eclipse. Learn why this happens in the next slides.
The geometry of a lunar eclipse. When the moon passes into the Earth's umbra (shadow), it will darken and redden as sunlight must pass through Earth's atmosphere to reach it.
Phases of the eclipse. Light wavelengths are scattered by Earth's air molecules, and when the sunlight has passed through the atmosphere, only red wavelengths remain.
The eclipse will be visible in its entirety over the Northern Pacific. North America viewers will experience the eclipse after midnight on Wednesday, October 8th, 2014.
Local times for the closing stages of the lunar eclipse on October 8th, 2014.
Diagram showing displacement of the Sun's image at sunrise and sunset. This is due to atmosphere refraction: light being bent by our atmosphere's moisture and gases (e.g. air).
Total eclipse phases as it passed north of the Earth's shadow on October 8, 2014. Universal Time.
During a selenelion, the reddened light that reaches the moon comes from all sunrises and sunsets happening simultaneously on the Earth.
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The moon turns red and orange during a total lunar eclipse. Learn why this happens in the next slides.
Photo/NASA
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