Photographers around the globe pointed their cameras to the skies final night time for a uncommon “blood moon” whole lunar eclipse.
Total lunar eclipses happen when a full moon passes by means of Earth‘s darkest, innermost shadow, referred to as the umbra. As solely redder-colored mild is ready to penetrate our planet’s environment, the moon is forged in a blood-like hue that is usually referred to as a “blood moon“. The U.S. was handled to a spectacular “blood moon” in March, however this time it was solely seen in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Earth’s pure satellite tv for pc spent about 82 minutes completely coated by our planet’s shadow on Sunday night time into Monday morning (Sep. 7 to eight) in what was the longest whole lunar eclipse since 2022. If you are feeling such as you missed out, Live Science has rounded up some gorgeous snaps of the occasion.
In Beijing, China, photographer Sheng Jiapeng snapped a shocking shot of the blood moon rising above the capital’s Olympic Park Observation Tower.
During a lunar eclipse, the moon travels behind Earth relative to the place of the solar, making it the other of a solar eclipse.
Related: Full moons of 2025: When is the next full moon?
Photographer Nicolas Economou caught the moon partially in shadow above residential buildings in the city of Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
The moon remains visible during a lunar eclipse because some of the sun’s light refracts through Earth’s atmosphere and hits the moon before reflecting back to the surface of Earth facing the moon.
In Germany, photographer Emmanuele Contini captured the “blood moon” rising behind a spire on Berlin’s Oberbaumbruecke bridge.
The moon appears red because particles in Earth’s atmosphere are scattering the sun’s blue and other short-wavelength light. This leaves the longer-wavelength oranges and reds to pass through and reach the moon.
Photographer Nicolas Koutsokostas took this photo of the “blood moon” beside an air traffic control tower at Athens Airport in Greece.
A lunar eclipse like this only occurs when the moon is perfectly aligned behind our planet, relative to the sun. When the alignment is slightly off, and the sun’s light can still directly hit some of the moon, it’s a partial eclipse. When the alignment is a little further off, we see a regular full moon reflecting the sun’s light back at us — as is the case most months.
The next total lunar eclipse will be on March 3, 2026, according to NASA. The March 2026 “blood moon” will probably be seen over the Americas, in addition to the Pacific Islands, Asia and Australia.