October 30, 2004
The oldest light in the universe still hums faintly through space, a relic of the beginning itself.
Pumpkin Moon
Birthday · October 30, 2004
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published October 30, 2004. Credit: Sebastien Gauthier. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Does this look familiar? Red and orange hues haunting the face of the Moon should remind you of the October 27th total lunar eclipse. Created from exposures taken at intervals of 8.5 minutes during the total eclipse phase, the midpoint of the eclipse corresponds to the central exposure. The play of light across the lunar surface nicely demonstrates that the Earth's shadow is not uniformly dark as it extends into space. In fact, lunar maria and montes are still visible in the dimmed, reddened sunlight scattered into the cone-shaped shadow region, or umbra, by the atmosphere. Still, while processing the pictures into this composite image, astronomer Sebastien Gauthier was reminded of another haunting orange face. Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Image credit: Sebastien Gauthier