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Anyone who saw the lunar eclipse last month likely noted that it was relatively bright, with the darkened moon illuminated by ghostly red light. Now that same light is leading some scientists to questions about recent climate change data, according to New Scientist.
A relatively bright eclipse means that the Earth's atmosphere is comparatively free of volcanic dust, and that relatively large amounts of sunlight are being refracted through the Earth's atmosphere. Last week's was rated a 3 on a scale of 0 to 4, meaning that it was very bright indeed. Nor is this the first time – for the last dozen years, eclipses have been relatively luminous, as a result of few dust-spewing eruptions.
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