We all know what a lunar eclipse looks like - at least from our perspective. Have you ever gave any thought to what it might look like if you were standing on the moon?
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes." - Marcel Proust
An unusual perspective. A different viewpoint.
We know what a lunar eclipse looks like from earth. But has it ever occurred to you what it would look like if you were standing on the moon? Essentially it is a perspective and viewpoint that is completely reversed of ours. It is like thinking outside of the box.
During a total lunar eclipse, the sun and earth and moon are exactly or very closely aligned, with the earth between the sun and the moon. The moon passes directly behind earth and completely into the earth's shadow during the eclipse. From our perspective here on earth, we see the earth's shadow on the moon and consequently the moon is dimmed.
But now think about it from the viewpoint of the moon - the earth is eclipsing the sun. If you are standing on the moon, the earth would pass in front of your view of the sun. When the sun and earth and moon line up just right and the earth is completely blocking the orb of the sun, you would only see a red ring of fire of the sun. That is much different from what we see here on earth.
The ring of fire is the outline of the sun behind the earth, with the earth appearing to be a dark circle. It is a red ring of fire that would be an amazing sight! It is a continuous string of sunrises and sunsets circling the earth in a single moment! It is thousands of sunsets and sunrises happening simultaneously!
And at the very moment you are seeing this from the moon, people on earth are also seeing an amazing sight - a darker, sometimes red, moon.
Both are most definitely different viewpoints and perspectives and both are amazing and awe-inspiring!
(I took the above picture during the Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse, January 2019.)
My source for this out-of-this-world information:
Business Insider website, www.businessinsider.com, A NASA Video Shows What a Total Lunar Eclipse Looks Like From the Moon, and It's Mind-Blowing, Jessica Orwig, Sept. 14, 2015
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