From Blue into the Blue. Co-auhor is Josef Kujal/ASHK.
As the recent total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7, 2025, occurred during the dusk over Záhradné, eastern Slovakia, I wanted to demonstrate the cause of colors in the Earth’s shadow more clearly than before. This time-lapse mosaic shows the entire totality from right to left. As we know, the sky is blue due to Rayleigh scattering in our atmosphere, while the red breaks through the Earth’s atmosphere on the lunar surface. At the end of the totality, when the sky was already dark, a little bit of blue appeared on the lunar edge as well. It is discussed to be caused by the ozone layer in our atmosphere, through which the blue is not filtered, and so it continues to the edge of the Moon as well. This eclipse went from blue into the blue, indeed.
Used Nikon Z6III, ISO 1000, 3s exposures, 10-inch Newtonian Telescope on EQ-6 mount. Co author is Josef Kujal from Astronomy Society of Hradec Králové.
Cloudy view to the September 2025 eclipse over Eastern-Slovakia volcanoes
About 13 million years ago, this might have been a lunar eclipse clouded by the smoke and ash coming from the row of Tertiary east-Slovakian volcanoes. The smoke might have been scattering the red and orange light of lava from the volcanoes’ mouths, while the red moon would lie silently above the veil of this wild natural scenery, and our Galaxy would appear in the orange sky as well. After about 13 million years, on Sunday, 7 September 2025, when the eclipsed Moon appeared over the volcanoes for the last time (also with planet Saturn on the left), it was visually dramatic in a similar way; however, this time due to fast, but regular clouds moving in the sky and scattering the artificial light from the not far Slovakian Prešov city.
Indeed, observing this lunar eclipse was not easy. Despite the optimistic forecast, numerous clouds were moving from all directions, making it difficult to create a beautiful, wide panorama. But I gave it a shot. Here comes the result. Bright light over the horizon comes from Prešov city, Slovakia, which is hidden by the old volcanoes. On the right, the Milky Way starts to appear, while the eclipsed Moon is on the left. A brighter dot very low over the eastern horizon (very close to the left edge of the image, just above a distant city) is planet Saturn. Used Canon Ra, Sigma 35mm, f1.4, ISO 3200, 8s exposures (Moon is captured with HDR method).
A snapshot of total lunar eclipse on 7 September 2025 from Záhradné, Slovakia
A snapshot of partial lunar eclipse on 7 September 2025 from Záhradné, Slovakia
