The moon took on a reddish hue as it appeared in different phases between 2 and 4:30 a.m. ET.
In North and South
America, where the blood moon was most prominent, observers pointed at
the spectacle with binoculars, telescopes and cellphones.
Depending on time zones,
it started late Monday night or in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
Showers and clouds rendered it a bust in some cities, including Atlanta.
In Los Angeles, the
chance to view the total lunar eclipse lured thousands to the Griffith
Observatory. Families spread out blankets on the grass to take in views
from dozens of telescopes set up like a stand of small trees.
Cameras clicked while watchers cheered and pointed at the blushing moon.
"It's energizing. Look
around. Everybody is here to see something rare and live," said Gene
Ireland, who teaches astronomy to middle school students.
Ireland encouraged those who reached the hilltop observatory grounds to peek through his 12-inch Dobsonian reflector telescope.
"Everyone is always
looking down at their phones, their iPads," he said. "We want them
looking up. Looking up, you see a whole different world. Getting away
from the cities and traffic, and the sky is just beautiful."
'Blood moons'
In a total lunar
eclipse, the full moon turns a coppery red as it passes into Earth's
shadow. During the process, the moon's bright glow dims, taking on a red
hue because of shimmers of sunlight and sunsets seeping through the
Earth's atmosphere.
Dust and sulfur dioxide
in the Earth's atmosphere can affect the size of the shadow. The moon
has to be full for the total lunar eclipse to occur.
As more of the moon
emerges from the shadow, its red tint fades as it gets lighter and
transitions to its normal silver color. The entire reddening process
takes about an hour.
Left out
In Tuesday's spectacle,
clouds hid the view from half of the United States, but cities such as
Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles had optimal, front-row seats.
"Woke up in just enough time to see half of the blood moon," tweeted LaTara Hammers of Columbia, Missouri. "It's so cool how the universe works."
South and North American
residents watched the entire spectacle, while observers in the Western
Pacific caught the second half of the event. Central Asia and some parts
of Europe and Africa didn't see much -- the moon was setting in most of
those continents during the eclipse.
"You know what's even
weirder than the 'blood moon'? The entire solar system and how amazing
it perpetually is always while we barely notice," Johnny Argent tweeted.
'A chance arrangement of gravity'
Ed Krupp, director of the observatory, described it as a "typical copper red" total lunar eclipse.
Though rare, it's the sky "conspiring into a special event" that helps draw crowds, he said.
"The fact that there are
four lunar successions coming this year and next ... is unusual," Krupp
said. "But it's not the kind of thing astronomers get worked up about.
It doesn't really mean anything. It's a chance arrangement of gravity
and the motions of objects in the solar system, primarily the Earth and
moon."
Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view with the naked eye and don't require special filters.
The rare sight was virtually unheard of a few centuries ago.
Before the 20th century, there was a 300-year period when there were no blood moons, said Fred Espenak, a NASA eclipse expert.
"The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA," he said.
Three more chances
If you missed it Tuesday, there will be more opportunities.
North America will see a blood moon four times
-- known as a tetrad -- between now and September of next year. In
addition to Tuesday, it will make another appearance on October 8 of
this year, and April 4 and September 28 of next year.
Miss those, and you'll have to wait until 2032.
Link to source: http://edition.cnn.com
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