Moon Drop
Alex Barry
Award: Top 100
School: trinity preparatory school
Teacher: elmarie mortimer
Category: Natural
Photo #20925
Moon Drop
This image shows the full progression of a lunar eclipse in one frame to highlight the Moon's path through Earth's shadow. I kept the camera fixed before the sunrise and captured every stage, then stacked the different exposures to demonstrate the progression. At the beginning, the Moon is subtly dimmed because it is moving into the penumbra, the outer part of Earth's shadow where only some sunlight is blocked. As it continues into the umbra, the darkest central region, direct sunlight is almost completely blocked. This is why the Moon can appear nearly invisible at first.
The red color occurs because sunlight is filtered through Earth's atmosphere before reaching the Moon. Shorter wavelengths like blue are scattered in all directions, while longer red wavelengths pass through more easily and are refracted into the umbra, illuminating the Moon during totality or the peak of the eclipse. As the sequence moves downward, the Moon fades as it leaves the umbra, passes back through the penumbra and drops closer to the horizon, where atmospheric interference increases. The result shows both the physics of light scattering and how celestial mechanics of an eclipse change. Lunar eclipses are at least biannual, so the opportunity not only to take this shot, but at this level, is extraordinary.
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