Photos Show Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse Around the World

From Thursday night into Friday morning, the Earth’s shadow gradually overtook the moon’s typically bright white face, which took on a ruddy red hue. It was the first total lunar eclipse, also known as a blood moon, in more than two years. A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon align, in that order. There are different types of lunar eclipses, but total lunar eclipses cause the moon to shine red because sunlight must travel through the atmosphere before illuminating the moon. Blue wavelengths of light scatter more readily in our atmosphere, but redder wavelengths pass through, creating the blood-moon effect. The blood moon was most visible this week in the Americas, western parts of Africa and Europe, New Zealand and some of Russia. Local stargazing groups and planetariums in many cities hosted watch parties, while others got the chance to see it online. Totality, when the entire moon is engulfed in the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, was expected at 2:25 a.m. Eastern.