Coppery reds of upcoming lunar eclipse may be accented with turquoise

Next Wednesday, Oct. 8, the full moon will turn a coppery red as a lunar eclipse becomes visible across the entirety of the United States.

"It promises to be a stunning sight, even from the most light polluted cities," Fred Espenak, NASA's resident eclipse expert, said in a recent press release. "I encourage everyone, especially families with curious children, to go out and enjoy the event."

From the moon, the same lunar eclipse would have the Earth engulfed in a fiery ring, as the sun's rays burn along the edges of the Earth's silhouette -- the lunar viewer seeing every sunrise and sunset simultaneously. It's that same fiery ring that casts a shade of auburn red on the moon's surface.

But scientists say the lunar eclipse might feature more than just rusty reds. There also might be some turquoise -- a thin sliver of it.

"During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the moon passes through the stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering," explained atmospheric scientist Richard Keen, a researcher at the University of Colorado. "However, light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer."

Keen advises sky-gazers to look for the turquoise using binoculars during either the beginning and ending minutes of the lunar eclipse's totality. The best viewing for Wednesday's eclipse will be in the wee hours of the morning, just before sunrise.