Video Credit & Copyright: Jean-Luc Dauvergne(Ciel et Espace); Music: Valère Leroy & Sophie Huet (Space-Music)
Explanation: If the full Moon suddenly faded, what would you see? The answer during the total lunareclipse of 2011 June was recorded in a dramatic time lapsevideo fromTajikistan. During atotal lunar eclipse, the Earth moves between the Moon and the Sun, causing the moon to fade dramatically. The Moon never gets completely dark, though, since the Earth's atmosphererefracts some light. As the above video begins, the scene may appear to be daytime and sunlit, but actually it is a nighttime and lit by the glow of the full Moon. As the moon becomes eclipsed and fades, the wind dies down and background stars can be seen reflected in foreground lake. Most spectacularly, thesky surrounding the eclipsed moon suddenly appears to befull of stars and highlighted by the busy plane of ourMilky Way Galaxy. The sequence repeats with a closer view, and the final image shows the placement of the eclipsed Moon near theEagle,Swan,Trifid, andLagoon nebulas. Nearly two hours after the eclipse started, the moon emerged from the Earth's shadow and its bright full glare again dominated the sky. The next total lunar eclipse will occur this Wednesday.
