APOD 2.3 & Lunar Eclipse Observation

This picture is one taken at the International Space Station. One of the major things noticed about this picture is the background. The picture provides an extraordinary, even though obstructed, view of the Earth at night. The cluster of lights most prominent in this photo is New Orleans, directly above the left wing of the spacecraft docked at the station.

A very noticeable aspect of the sky is the aura of light visible around the atmosphere. While it is uncertain what the source of this light is, it is most likely the light from the sun refracting around the planet. A notable effect of this phenomena is when the Moon glows red during a lunar eclipse, due to the refraction of red light at that end of the spectrum.

Speaking of Lunar Eclipses, I recently attended a Lunar Eclipse watch at my school with my amazing Astronomy Teacher, Mr. Percival. During the actual eclipse, an extraordinary amount of stars became visible, more stars than I had ever seen in the sky before. Many 'blank spaces' in some of my favorite constellations became filled with a sea of small pricks of light, which was really an astonishing sight.

I also made use of a telescope that was already set up to observe the planet Saturn. The sight was surreal almost, since it was defined well enough to see the bulge of the rings, but not enough to see the stripes on the planet. It almost seemed like a small painting.