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Explanation: Recorded on April 15th, this total lunar eclipse sequence looks south down icy Waterton Lake from the Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, planet Earth. The most distant horizon includes peaks in Glacier National Park, USA. An exposure every 10 minutes captured the Moon's position and eclipse phase, as it arced, left to right, above the rugged skyline and Waterton town lights. In fact, the sequence effectively measures the roughly 80 minute duration of the total phase of the eclipse. Around 270 BC, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus also measured the duration of lunar eclipses - though probably without the benefit of digital clocks and cameras. Still, using geometry, he devised a simple and impressively accurate way to calculate the Moon's distance, in terms of the radius of planet Earth, from the eclipse duration. This modern eclipse sequence also tracks the successive positions of Mars, above and right of the Moon, bright star Spica next to the reddened lunar disk, and Saturn to the left and below.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: lunar eclipse - Aristarchus
Publications with words: lunar eclipse - Aristarchus
See also:
- APOD: 2026 August 29 Á Eclipse Pair
- APOD: 2026 August 25 Á Earths Shadow Visualized with Lunar Eclipses
- APOD: 2025 November 3 Á A Double Helix Lunar Eclipse
- APOD: 2025 September 11 Á The Umbra of Earth
- APOD: 2025 March 25 Á A Blue Banded Blood Moon
- Eclipse Pair
- APOD: 2023 October 29 Á A Partial Lunar Eclipse