Lunar Eclipses

Hello. I love to play games in the night sky. Sometimes, when the Moon is big and bright, I play a little trick. I slowly cover the Moon up, making it look like a giant cookie with a bite taken out of it. It's a fun game of hide-and-seek. Then, for a little while, I can make the whole Moon blush a beautiful, coppery red. It glows in the dark. Have you ever seen me? I am a Lunar Eclipse.

My secret is that I am really a big shadow. I happen when your home, planet Earth, moves right in between the Sun and the Moon. Earth blocks all the sunshine and casts a giant, soft shadow into space, and the Moon sails right through it. Thousands of years ago, people in places like ancient Babylon watched me and wrote down everything they saw on clay tablets. A very smart thinker named Aristotle, who lived in Greece a long, long time ago in the 4th century BCE, noticed that Earth's shadow on the Moon was always curved. This helped him understand that the Earth is round, like a ball, and not flat like a pancake.

Long ago, some people thought I was spooky because the Moon would change colors. But now we know I am just a special and beautiful shadow dance in space. Today, when I visit, families get out their cozy blankets and watch me paint the Moon red. I show how the Earth, Moon, and Sun are always moving together in a giant, wonderful rhythm. The next time you see me, you’ll know it’s just Earth’s big shadow saying a quiet 'hello' to the Moon.