The majority of the world was lucky enough to witness a total lunar eclipse a few hours ago – and not just any lunar eclipse, the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
Incredibly, the Moon was entirely in Earth’s shadow (totality), turning it a dark blood red, for a full 1 hour and 43 minutes. Usually a lunar eclipse totality only lasts for around an hour.
Throw in the fact that Mars was hanging around nearby and shining brighter than it has in our night sky in 15 years, and it was a pretty spectacular show.
One of the best views was from on board the International Space Station, as these images captured by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst show.
Caught the Moon leaving Earth’s core shadow, just before setting over the South Atlantic. Last photo of the #LunarEclipse taken from #ISS. #Horizons pic.twitter.com/aNCzerchZ5
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 27, 2018
A partially eclipsed Moon, with our neighboring planet in the background, just before diving into Earth’s atmosphere. Just magical. #LunarEclipse #horizons pic.twitter.com/t539jjCNmY
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 27, 2018
Just took a photo of the #LunarEclipse from the @Space_Station. Tricky to capture. The slight hue of blue is actually the Earth’s atmosphere, just before the Moon is “diving into it”. #Horizons pic.twitter.com/X8r7puloQl
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 27, 2018
For those who didn’t get a chance to see it (which was most of the US and UK due to cloudy weather), we’ve also collected the most spectacular images of the event from Earth.
And even if you did make it outdoors to see this phenomenal reminder of our small part in the Solar System, then you still need to check out these views from around the world.
4 hours of events is sped to 1 minute. #LunarEclipse #bloodmoon pic.twitter.com/7XkKsW62tQ
— Jon Winterfell (@JonWinterfall) July 27, 2018
What a difference a lunar eclipse makes! #BloodMoon2018 pic.twitter.com/EWWdQmP7wE
— MelbourneSkies (@MelbourneSkies) July 27, 2018
I just watched the blood moon and took several pictures of it! I forgot to take my tripod with me, but a man who also watched the lunar eclipse, said that I could use his tripod to take better photos. This is what we could see from the countryside.#LunarEclipse #Bloodmoon2018 pic.twitter.com/UiloKV2mE1
— Hendrik Klaassens 🇪🇺 #FBPE #FBR 🌊 (@AuroraBlogspot) July 27, 2018
Lunar eclipse a few minutes ago as seen from Barcelona. Notice the planet Mars!! #EclipseLunar #LunarEclipse #astronomy #Barcelona cc/@apod @esa @nasa @ESO @meteocat pic.twitter.com/6tfT0P62MT
— Jordi Busqué (@jordibusque) July 27, 2018
In pictures: Blood moon around the world https://t.co/cRQmVNgcfj #LunarEclipse #BloodMoon #EclipseLunar pic.twitter.com/2aAfds6nA6
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 27, 2018
Blood Moon seen above Israel tonight 🌕
This is the longest lunar eclipse in 100 years. #lunareclipse2018 #LunarEclipse pic.twitter.com/cVIJNrjfxM
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) July 27, 2018
The longest total lunar eclipse of the century is visible now (except to viewers in North and Central America) and the photos are spectacular (📸: Getty, AP) pic.twitter.com/dQiw17RZRQ
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 27, 2018
Lunar eclipse photo update from Abu Dhabi. Spectacular! Photo credit belongs to Souhayl Ben Khaled, UAE Astronomy group. We’d love to see the view from where you are! pic.twitter.com/WVkHmgdNSZ
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) July 27, 2018
Lunar eclipse Cape Town 2018 taken with my canon camera. The blood moon pic.twitter.com/cKVxkPEyiy
— I luv South Africa (@drdoconline) July 27, 2018
Photos: #LunarEclipse: ‘#BloodMoon‘ dazzles skywatchers around the world https://t.co/MRtHDZpmKu 📷 Christian Merz / @AP_Images / Vyacheslav Oseledko / @AFPphoto / Matthias Hangst / @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/XMFAItVjSk
— NBC News Pictures (@NBCNewsPictures) July 27, 2018
Oh, and don’t forget…
What #flatearthers expect to see tonight. #LunarEclipse pic.twitter.com/tUZztiv0yX
— Think Atheist 🌐 (@ThinkAtheist) July 27, 2018
We live in a very beautiful part of the Universe.