Lunar eclipse possible as a crescent??

I was wondering if any of you astronomy buffs would know the answer to this. A little before I left work tonight I noticed here in the midwest US the moon was a crescent and it was blood red. I didn't think a lot of it at the time, because....well I was working.

Anyways, I was wondering; it doesn't seem possible to have a lunar eclipse when the moon is almost new since the alignment of the earth sun and moon are not in a line. Why was the moon 14% waxing and blood red?

Is this even possible?

Is this a result of atmospheric conditions instead??

Lunar eclipses are only possible when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in alignment. You can see the dark side of the Moon when it is a thin crescent because of "Earthshine" (sunlight reflected from Earth). The "blood red" colour that you witnessed will have been entirely due to atmospheric conditions.

A lunar eclipse would be possible only during a full moon, since the moon would have to on the exact opposite side of the Earth as the sun.

Originally posted by Mogget
You can see the dark side of the Moon when it is a thin crescent because of "Earthshine" (sunlight reflected from Earth).

There is no such thing as the dark side of the moon. There is a far side that's always facing away from Earth and never visible except by a spaceship on the other side of it. If there's any illumination of the "dark part" of the crescent moon it's still the same part that's visible during the full moon. (Not sure if you meant otherwise,k but just wanted to clear that up )

The "blood red" colour that you witnessed will have been entirely due to atmospheric conditions.

Yes, this is the most likely explanation.

If you could watch the eclipse from the surface of the Moon, your surroundings would grow dark as the Sun disappears behind Earth. But the ground would still be lit by an eerie red glow. Looking up, you would see the source of this light: a glowing red ring around Earth.

Source

i hope the article i've linked to will clear things up a bit


[edit on 22-3-2007 by toreishi]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
A lunar eclipse would be possible only during a full moon, since the moon would have to on the exact opposite side of the Earth as the sun.

And conversely, a solar eclipse can only happen during a "new" moon, since the Earth would need to be on th exact opposite side of the Moon as the Sun.

And to the OP...of corse the Moon would look like a waxing (or waning) crescent during a lunar eclipse, especially a partial eclipse. The Earth is casting a huge shadow on the moon, thus the eclipse and thus the crescent.

[edit on 22-3-2007 by Soylent Green Is People]

For what it's worth (.02) I saw the same as Ben did...both on Wednesday and Thursday night.

There is no such thing as the dark side of the moon. There is a far side that's always facing away from Earth and never visible except by a spaceship on the other side of it. If there's any illumination of the "dark part" of the crescent moon it's still the same part that's visible during the full moon. (Not sure if you meant otherwise,k but just wanted to clear that up

The dark side of the Moon is the hemisphere that is in shadow at that particular time. I am well aware that this changes as the Moon orbits Earth !