The position of the moon (and earth's shadow) are shown as viewed from center of earth. A small parallax effect occurs from specific location on surface of the earth.
The yellow line is the plane of the ecliptic (path of the sun through the sky, and hence the center of the earth's shadow)
The two concentric circles centered on this line show the extent of the umbra and penumbra, the zones of full and partial shadow, respectively, for an object in the moon's orbit.
The moon is drawn at maximum eclipse, and circles for every hour interval of motion.
The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia.
2008-09-17 22:24 Tomruen 509×370 (19392 bytes) == Summary == [[9 February 2009 lunar eclipse]] chart The position of the moon (and earth's shadow) are shown as viewed from center of earth. A small parallax effect occurs from specific location on surface of the earth. The yellow line is the plane of