Abstract
THE LUNAR ECLIPSE OF OCTOBER 16.—The three interesting phenomena of the present year—the solar and lunar eclipses and the occupation of Venus—have all been favoured with fine weather in London. The chief interest of the lunar eclipse on October 16 was the varied colouring of the shadow. The outer portion was bluish- or slate-grey, the inner portion decidedly ruddy. It is not difficult to give an explanation; the light reaching the outer portion needed only a small amount of refraction, and passed through the higher regions of the earth's atmosphere, suffering but little absorption, while that near the.centre of the shadow underwent large refraction, and must have passed close to the earth's surface, so that only the long red waves could get through. Some have reckoned this as a dark eclipse; the present writer would class it as of average character, having seen both darker and brighter eclipses. There was a large amount of lunar detail plainly visible in the outer region of the shadow; a Greenwich photograph with 40 seconds' exposure showed the Maria and bright rays conspicuously. Two of the predicted occupations were successfully observed at Greenwich. The sky near the moon was too bright to permit the others to be seen.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 108, 256–257 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/108256a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/108256a0