What causes a red moon?
The orange and red tints that the Sun and Moon sometimes take on are caused by the particles in the Earth's atmosphere.
When light (or more specifically, packets of light called photons) from an astronomical object passes through the Earth's atmosphere, it scatters off of particles in the latter. It turns out that these particles like to scatter blue light more than they do red light; so "bluer" photons (those with shorter wavelengths) tend to get scattered, and "redder" photons (those with longer wavelengths) pass through. So, astronomical objects look redder from Earth than they would from space, because the redder wavelengths from the objects penetrate the atmosphere better than the bluer ones. Incidentally, this is why the sky is blue: blue light from the Sun is scattered in all directions on its way to the Earth.
These pictures were captured by a Daily Mail Reporter. They are absolutely beautiful.
Showing posts with label astronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label astronomy. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, June 23, 2008
Life in outer space?
Japan's biggest astronomical observatories are teaming up for an unprecedented quest to find out whether there is life in outer space.
The project, led by Japanese astronomers, will bring together a dozen or more observatories from all over the country to study one star that researchers see as a potential home to an extraterrestrial civilization.
"Everyone wonders at least once in their lifetime whether space is infinite and whether aliens really do exist," said Shinya Narusawa, chief researcher at Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory in western Japan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)