by Chris Peterson » Fri Jun 05, 2015 3:34 pm
MarkBour wrote:But, when we (on Earth) see a dim moon in full eclipse, then we are looking at light that has passed through Earth's atmosphere, twice, right?
I guess it depends on how you define "twice". The light that is illuminating the eclipsed Moon has largely passed from the outer atmosphere, down some ways, and then back out again. The actual path length through the atmosphere, however, can be many times longer than the height of the atmosphere.
Maybe a better example of light passing twice through Earth's atmosphere is moonshine, where you actually have sunlight shining down through about one atmospheric height, bouncing off the ocean, and then passing back through the atmosphere to illuminate the Moon.
[quote="MarkBour"]But, when we (on Earth) see a dim moon in full eclipse, then we are looking at light that has passed through Earth's atmosphere, twice, right?[/quote]
I guess it depends on how you define "twice". The light that is illuminating the eclipsed Moon has largely passed from the outer atmosphere, down some ways, and then back out again. The actual path length through the atmosphere, however, can be many times longer than the height of the atmosphere.
Maybe a better example of light passing twice through Earth's atmosphere is moonshine, where you actually have sunlight shining down through about one atmospheric height, bouncing off the ocean, and then passing back through the atmosphere to illuminate the Moon.