Cloud cover here in Northern Virginia prevented me from seeing it, but apparently last night’s lunar eclipse was really quite specatcular:
LONDON, England (AP) — A dark red shadow crept across the moon Saturday during the first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years, thrilling stargazers and astronomers around the world.
Partly visible on every continent, residents of Europe, Africa and the Middle East had the best view of the phenomenon, weather permitting.
About a dozen people gathered at the Croydon Observatory in southeast London to watch the start of the eclipse.
“It’s starting to go!” said Alex Gikas, 8, a Cub Scout who was studying for his astronomy badge. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’m really excited.”
By the time greatest eclipse, shortly after 5:44 p.m. ET, the light of the full moon was replaced by near-total obscurity.
“It was really very dark,” said Paul Harper, Chairman of the Croydon Astronomical Society, who estimated that moon had lost over four-fifths of its luminosity. “It was quite a nice one.”
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, an uncommon event because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth’s orbit.
Sunlight still reaches the moon during total eclipses, but it is refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, bathing the moon in an eerie reddish light.
And, there’s a collection of photos from around the world at SpaceWeather.com
