When in Total Lunar Eclipse, the Moon Shows a Reddish

question 370

Multiple Choice

When in total lunar eclipse, the Moon shows a reddish color because

• A) the Moon is illuminated only by the residual glow from the dark side of Earth, which is predominantly red.
• B) only the red part of the solar spectrum is deflected onto it by Earth's atmosphere.
• C) the red light is the residual thermal glow from a still-warm Moon, after the abrupt removal of the heat of the Sun.
• D) light from the northern and southern lights (the aurora) on Earth, which are predominantly red, illuminates the Moon.

---

Definitions:

Three-Letter Sequences

In genetics, sequences of three nucleotides (triplets) in DNA or RNA that code for specific amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

mRNA

Messenger RNA, a form of RNA responsible for transporting genetic instructions from DNA to the ribosome, the site of protein synthesis.

tRNA

Transfer RNA; a type of RNA that helps decode a messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence into a protein during protein synthesis.

rRNA

Ribosomal RNA, a type of RNA that, together with proteins, makes up the ribosome, the site of protein synthesis in cells.