November's lunar eclipsewas one of the shortest in recentyears and also one of the brightest --demonstrating that the Earth's shadow is not completely dark.The eclipsed Moon remained easily visible during totality,reflecting reddened light filtering on to its surfacefrom all the sunsetsand sunrises,as seen from th lunar perspective,around the edges of a silhouetted Earth.Hoping to view th celestial shadow play from theEarth's night side near Cologne, Germany, abou 400,000kilometers from the lunar surface amateur astronomerMarkus Strassfeld packed a digital cameraand telescope and drove about 10 kilometers outside the cityto escape the bright city lights.Fortunately, the sky cleared about an hour before theeclipse began and he was able to record this sharp image ofsunsets illuminating the totally eclipsed Moon.Young ray crater Tycho,about 85 kilometers across, stands out nearthe Moon's brighter southern edge.
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