Total lunar eclipse: observing the Earth as a transiting planet
Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - 09:10
in Astronomy & Space
Astronomers have succeeded in recording sunlight shining through the Earth's atmosphere in a manner similar to the study of distant exoplanets. During the extraordinary occasion of a lunar eclipse, the Large Binocular Telescope observed the light that was filtered by the Earth's atmosphere and reflected by the moon in unique detail. In addition to oxygen and water, atomic spectral lines of sodium, calcium and potassium were detected in our atmosphere in this way first time.