The European Southern Observatory (ESO, European Southern Observatory) has presented an image of the Moon in a state of total eclipse. The image was taken this month at the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Image Source: ESO

In the photo, the natural satellite of our planet looks colored red. During a lunar eclipse, the Earth, being directly between the Sun and the Moon, blocks the Sun from the Moon. The entire surface of the Moon falls into the shadow cast by the Earth.

The red color of the Moon is due to the fact that the sun’s rays pass through the Earth’s atmosphere. Sunlight contains all the colors of the rainbow. Blue rays scatter in the atmosphere through a process called Rayleigh scattering (which makes the sky blue), while red rays pass through the atmosphere more freely, with only a slight deflection. These deflected red rays reach the Moon’s surface, giving it that dramatic reddish hue .

It should be noted that the picture was taken at the moment of the total phase of the eclipse, when the Earth shielded the sunlight to the strongest extent. You can see the high resolution image below – click to enlarge.