X-Nico

unusual facts about lunar eclipse



Danjon scale

The Danjon Scale of lunar eclipse brightness is a five-point scale useful for measuring the appearance and luminosity of the Moon during a lunar eclipse.

Earth's shadow

When the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are aligned perfectly (or almost perfectly), with the Earth in between the Sun and the Moon, the Earth's shadow falls onto the surface of the Moon which is facing the night side of the Earth, such that observers see the shadow gradually turn the bright full Moon dark, and then light again, creating a lunar eclipse.

Guillaume Le Gentil

One of his interesting findings was that the duration of the lunar eclipse of 30 August 1765 was predicted by a Tamil astronomer, based on the computation of the size and extent of the earth-shadow (going back to Aryabhata, 5th century), and was found short by 41 seconds, whereas the charts of Tobias Mayer were long by 68 seconds.


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