During the predawn hours of August 28, 2007, the full moon drifted eastward into the Earth's dark inner shadow (the "umbra") and experienced a total lunar eclipse.  This composite sequence—beginning on the lower right—shows the moon as it first encounters the umbra, enters deep into the shadow, and emerges on the other side.  Despite being engulfed entirely in darkness, the moon still takes on a bright coppery color.  This is because reddened light of countless sunrises and sunsets here on Earth is filtered through our planet’s atmosphere and is bent inward until it falls on the darkened moon some 227,033 miles away.  The entire eclipse took about 3½ hours to complete.