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The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding our planet. It not only sustains life by providing breathable air but also plays a crucial role in various natural phenomena, such as weather patterns and light refraction. During a lunar eclipse, the atmosphere becomes a key player in the Moon's appearance.

While the Earth is blocking the direct sunlight from illuminating the Moon, the atmosphere continues to bend or refract the Sun's rays through what is known as Rayleigh scattering. This scattering effect separates the different colors of light, allowing the longer red wavelengths to continue towards the Moon, giving it its characteristic red hue during a total lunar eclipse. Think of it as the way sunsets appear red because the shorter blue wavelengths are scattered out of line with our sight while red remains dominant.

Without the atmosphere, this subtle refraction wouldn’t take place, and the Moon would remain dark when the Earth comes directly between it and the Sun.

Refraction is the bending of light as it passes through one medium to another. In the context of a lunar eclipse, it refers to how the Earth's atmosphere bends sunlight towards the Moon. This bending of light ensures that, even though the Earth is directly between the Sun and the Moon blocking direct sunlight, some sunlight still reaches the Moon.

The refracted light is mostly composed of longer wavelengths, which are red. This is because shorter wavelengths, like blue and violet, get scattered in different directions by the particles in the atmosphere. The phenomenon of refraction helps us observe the Moon in a stunning reddish tint during a total lunar eclipse, famously known as the "Blood Moon."

If there were no atmosphere, this bending would not happen, and the Moon would be invisible or very faint because no sunlight would bend around the Earth to reach it during the eclipse.

The Moon's illumination during a lunar eclipse is primarily influenced by the Earth’s atmosphere and the refraction of light. During the event, the Earth briefly obstructs the direct path of sunlight from reaching the Moon. However, the Earth's atmosphere bends some sunlight, specifically red light, towards the Moon, causing it to illuminate.

This illumination isn't from direct sunlight but rather the indirect light that manages to find its way to the Moon’s surface due to refraction, making the Moon appear with a reddish glow. It's this atmospheric bending that offers the ethereal spectacle of a blood-red Moon.

In an alternative scenario without Earth's atmosphere, no refracted sunlight would reach the Moon. Consequently, during such a lunar eclipse, the Moon would be devoid of illumination, appearing pitch black as it sits within the Earth’s shadow, lacking the atmospheric magic that paints it red.