Lunar Eclipse Viewed From the Moon

[onesmallstep]

I have often wondered what would a lunar eclipse look like as viewed from the surface of the moon? The light refracted through earth's atmosphere that turns the moon red, or reddish brown during an eclipse should be spectacular when viewed from the moon. <br /><br />I would imagine earth's atmosphere would appear as a brilliantly lit reddish circle, or arc as the sun slips behind the earth.<br /><br />Has this ever been witnessed before, maybe by Apollo Astronauts or robotic explorer?...I have never seen an image taken of it. Can anyone enlighten me? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tony873004]

Here's an image I made, giving it my best guess.<br />http://orbitsimulator.com/BA/lunarEclipse.JPG

 

[3488]

Hi guys.<br /><br />It has been done already,<br /><br />Surveyor 3 image of Earth eclipsing the Sun from the lunar surface.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[onesmallstep]

Thanks guys! Tony, your image looks exactly like what I imagined, but I would think the ring would have to be extremely bright to illuminate the moon enough that it could be seen from earth. I doubt that you could see any lights of the cities under those conditions.<br /><br />3488, The surveyor image appears to show only arcs, but they are quite a bit brighter, just as I suspected. I guess the surveyor image is in black and white?, or did it have the ability to take color images? Isn't surveyor 3 the one Apollo 12 visited and brought back pieces of? I guess Pete and Al brought back the very camera that took this picture...cool!<br /><br />I have always thought it would be of great scientific interest to have a webcam on the moon...just to be able to view images such as this, to study the earth, etc. I would think this could be done for minimal cost, (relatively speaking), I wonder why it hasn't.<br /><br />The cameras on the three rovers from Apollos 15, 16, and 17 worked for some time after the astronauts departed, but I guess none of them ever captured an eclipse. Does anyone know if these cameras just died of power failure, or did someone at NASA just turn them off? If it's the latter, more is the pity. If they were turned off, I wonder if it would be possible to turn them back on...batteries are probably dead by now though...what a shame<img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi onesmallstep,<br /><br />The Sun passed behind the Earth as seen from the Moon, on a line that passed <br />north of the central line, hence arcs & the light being concentrated around the Earth's<br />northern hemisphere.<br /><br />The Surveyors all had colour cameras & AFAIK, the colours shown in the image <br />may not be too different to reality.<br /><br />The Apollo 15 Camera on the LR failed shortly after the LM lifted off, but it was intended<br />to be used for a similar observation as for Surveyor 3, but the failure scuppered that.<br /><br />Yes it was Surveyor 3 that was visited by Apollo 12 & the camera was returned (also found to contain <br />dormant microbes in the insulation when an engineer sneezed during its <br />construction & said microbes were bought back to life after said camera was returned).<br /><br />A lunar webcam would be so good. RTG powered so available 24/7, lunar day & night.<br /><br />AFAIK, the Apollo 16 & 17 cameras died of power failure & the Apollo 15 one packed up, <br />just after the Jim Irwin & Dave Scott left (BTW I have met Jim Irwn & Alfred Worden).<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[heyscottie]

Now you've whet my appetite for some high quality solar eclipse images from the lunar surface! I'd not given it much thought, but it is clear to me that the Surveryor images can't possibly be doing the event any justice.<br /><br />Let's get a modern camera up there! I'd guess our next lunar landing missions might take along something of that nature...

 

[willpittenger]

Which reminds me: Have ISS crews had a chance to image the shadow of a Solar Eclipse on the Earth yet? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi willpittenger,<br /><br />I have found these Solar Eclipse of Wednesday 29th March 2006 seen from ISS.<br /><br />Mediterranean & Turkey,<br /><br />Solar Eclipse of Wednesday 11th August 1999, seen from MIR. <br /><br />Hi heyscottie,<br /><br />Yes I agree completely with you. Such a camera would deliver many beautiful images<br />like that. I like the idea of the Lunar webcam also.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Andrew, excellent! Thanx for finding them. the umbra is larger than I thought it would be, but I hadn't though about it too hard before looking <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

No problem MeteorWayne.<br /><br />I quite enjoy seeking stuff like that out.<br /><br />The umbra seems huge!!!!!!!<br /><br />I'm off to bed now as it is late & will be back tommorow with some Comet 17/P Holmes images hopefully.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[nimbus]

I'm almost certain I've seen such a picture. I can't remember where, but I'll post it or a link to it, or something like it, once I recall. <br /><br />That's the one, see Andrew's post. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[qso1]

Go to the amazing images forum thread entitled "My 3D stuff". For my graphic novel, I had astronauts on the moon viewing a lunar eclipse in 2018 if I recall the date correctly. It was dated because I found one that is occuring in the summer of that year and is to be visible from Egypt.<br /><br />AFAIK, no lunar astronaut has ever been on the moon during an eclipse.<br /><br />Your description is pretty close to what I envisioned and tried to capture in my images. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>