The medieval followers of Aristotle, first in the Islamic world and then in Christian Europe, tried to make sense of the moon. It was suggested in Antiquity that the moon was a perfect mirror; its markings were reflections of earthly features. On Sunday July 16th 2000, the longest-lasting lunar eclipse in 140 years was said to have occurred. The moon plunged for almost two hours dead center through the shadow of Earth. The earth’s shadow has two parts: the umbra, the dark space directly between the earth and the moon, and the penumbra, the weaker shadow that extends outward like…