Fact #053
Observing
A totally eclipsed Moon turns red because it's lit by every sunrise and sunset on Earth at once.
Earth's shadow isn't truly black: our atmosphere bends and filters sunlight into it, stripping out blue. Standing on the Moon during a lunar eclipse you'd see Earth as a black disc ringed by a thin red glow, the whole planet's terminator, all its dawns and dusks, lighting the ground around you.
Source: NASA eclipse resources (opens in a new tab) · checked Aug 2026