Shadow Play

During September 7th's lunar eclipse, the Moon slid through the Earth's shadow. Extending into space , Earth's cone-shaped shadow has two distinct parts, the lighter, outer part or penumbra, and the darker, inner shadow called the umbra. For this eclipse , the lunar disk just grazed the shadow's dark inner umbra. As a result, only a small part of the Moon was noticeably eclipsed, but the performance still attracted the attention of Moon watchers along the Earth's night side. In this creative scene , eclipse enthusiasts have matched the curve of a hoop to the eclipsed portion of the Moon - demonstrating the apparent size and position of the lunar disk relative to the umbra and penumbra. Of course, it's only shadow play .