Why doesn the Moon get completely dark and shows a reddish color during a Total eclipse?
The answer to this question is illustrated in the next figure, which shows that some of the rays from the Sun can be deflected toward the Moon as they cross the Earth’s atmosphere (this is known as optical refraction). Also, since the Earth’s atmosphere is more opaque to blue ligth, the light that is deflected is also redder than sunlight. • SOLAR ECLIPSE occurs when the Moon’s shadow falls on the Earth (during new Moon): This figure shows a sketch of how the Moon’s shadow travels across the Earth: Q: Why don’t we observe eclipses at each full Moon or new Moon? Because of the Moon’s orbital tilt, the Moon generally is either above or below the Earth’s orbit. Thus the Moon’s shadow rarely hits the Earth, and the Earth’s shadow rarely hits the Moon. This image shows that the Moon’s orbit is tipped 5 degrees with respect to the Earth’s: NODES are the two points in each orbit at which the Moon crosses the Earth’s orbital plane. For lunar or solar eclipses to occur the nodes must be aligned
