Last night, amateur skywatchers and dedicated telescope-twiddlers alike observed a vanishingly rare ‘super blue blood moon’, the stunning confluence of three distinct celestial events that lent the seemingly-oversized moon a deep rust tint.
I was asleep, because I start work at 6am. Still, compiling this article makes me feel like I was also outside, craning my neck to cop the combination of a full lunar eclipse (resulting in a blood moon), a supermoon (when the thing appears especially close to Earth during its orbit), and a blue moon (the second full moon within a calendar month).
While all of Australia bore witness to our first observable total lunar eclipse since 2015, folks on the western coast had an especially great view. Through some natural optical trickery, the moon appeared larger over the horizon in comparison to its appearance from vantage points further east.
That means folks in Perth fully observed to the moon’s reddish hue, caused by Earth’s atmosphere warping light from the sun, and the path of our planet’s shadow over its nearest orbiting body.
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Folks abroad were also treated to an especially grouse sight in the sky. Over on the west coast of the United States, photographers captured the vibrant moon looming over the morning’s waves.
You better believe it provided an incredible sight over portions of Europe and Asia, too. Have a gander at this shot from Erdine, in Turkey:
In Erbil, Iraq:
And in London, England:
The last time this combination occurred was around 35 years ago. The next total lunar eclipse will appear in just under a year, on January 19, 2019 – but it won’t have that special blue moon or supermoon sheen.
I’ll probably be asleep regardless, but as evidenced by this article, plenty of people will be up and taking snaps for folks like myself to gawp at in the morning.
