A version of this article appears in print on March 18, 2025, Section D, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Orange Alert: Found in a Snowy Owl Haven, A Bird of a Different Feather.

When passing nearer to the shadow's edge, the moon is illuminated with rusty, orange colors. The coming March 2025 eclipse, then, may be more on the rusty spectrum.

A 1976 picture from the Viking lander, the very first spacecraft to land on Mars, shows the Martian ground covered with a layer of rusty orange dust. Not all of Mars’ surface has the same color.