Winding its endless filament of space-time around the sun, the earth swung this week squarely between the sun and the moon. Earth's shadow did not turn the moon entirely dark, because enough sunlight was bent around the earth by atmospheric refraction to illuminate the satellite dimly. Since long red wavelengths of sunlight pass through layers of atmosphere more easily than short blue wavelengths, the color of the eclipsed moon was a dark, dull, coppery red.
Though lunar eclipses are less frequent than solar eclipses, more people see them because the darkened moon is visible...
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