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| A lunar eclipse is shown over the ocean in Oceanside, California |
A thousand people crowded on a hilltop outside Los Angeles before dawn on Wednesday for one of the best views in America of a rare lunar eclipse called a โSuper Blue Blood Moon,โ as the Earthโs shadow fell across its natural satellite.
Outside the Griffith Observatory, which more commonly draws tourists looking at the cityโs famous Hollywood sign, people lounged on the grass and peered through telescopes for a better look at the red-tinted โblood moonโ shadow.
โI didnโt expect to see this many people and it kind of feels like nice inside to be, โAh! Other people know about this and want to come see it,’โ said Sam Rubaye, a 34-year-old property manager in Los Angeles who came up with friends.
In western North America, the eclipse began at 3:48am Pacific Time (1148 GMT), according to Nasa. Those on the East Coast were less fortunate: the moon had set before the eclipse was in full swing, according to Nasa.
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| The โSuper Blue Blood Moonโ sets behind the Staten Island Ferry, seen from Brooklyn, New York |
The eclipse occurred during the rare occasion of a second full moon in a single month, otherwise known as a โblue moon,โ and during a point in the moonโs orbit at which it has reached its closest position to Earth, thus making it appear larger and brighter in the sky than normal, as a โsuper moon.โ
The reddish appearance of the lunar surface โ the moonโs image does not vanish entirely during an eclipse โ is due to rays of sunlight passing through Earthโs atmosphere as the moon falls into our planetโs shadow.
The last time all three conditions occurred for a single lunar eclipse visible from North America was in 1866, according to the meteorological forecaster AccuWeather.
โGriffith Observatory is all about having an eyeball to the sky, and so itโs one thing to learn about this event in a book, but itโs another to see it for yourself,โ observatory director Ed Krupp said in a phone interview.
