September 27, 2015 Total Lunar Eclipse: View from the Moon

  • Released Tuesday, September 1st, 2015
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:49PM
  • ID: 4341

With the lunar horizon in the foreground, the Earth passes in front of the Sun, revealing the red ring of sunrises and sunsets along the limb of the Earth. The Earth and Sun are in Virgo for observers on the Moon. The bright star above them is beta Virginis.
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On September 28, 2015 Universal Time (the evening of the 27th for the Americas), the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse. When viewed from the Moon, as in this animation, the Earth hides the Sun. A red ring, the sum of all Earth’s sunrises and sunsets, lines the Earth’s limb and casts a ruddy light on the lunar landscape. With the darkness of the eclipse, the stars come out.

The city lights of North and South America and of western Europe and Africa are visible on the night side of the Earth. The part of the Earth visible in this animation is the part where the lunar eclipse can be seen.


Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio


Missions

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Series

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Datasets used in this visualization

LRO DEM (A.K.A. Digital Elevation Map) (Collected with the LOLA sensor)
DE421 (A.K.A. JPL DE421)
Ephemeris NASA/JPL
LRO WAC 643nm High Sun Global Mosaic (Collected with the LROC sensor)
Mosaic

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