Hubble just captured a lunar eclipse for the first time ever
Taking advantage of a total lunar eclipse in January 2019, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have measured the amount of ozone in Earth's atmosphere. (ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser/)In the search for life in far-flung worlds, astronomers are harnessing a very large and nearby tool—our very own moon. During a total lunar eclipse last year, astronomers trained the Hubble Space Telescope on our moon, which served as a giant lunar mirror. This marks the first time a space telescope captured a total lunar eclipse, and the exercise may even help us track down life elsewhere in the universe.Unlike a total solar eclipse, when the moon slides between the sun and the Earth, it’s our planet that saunters between the sun and the moon during a total lunar eclipse. As the Earth blocks the moon’s view of the sun, only slivers of light can squeeze past the planet’s atmosphere and cast a...