A Blood Moon lunar eclipse swept through densely populated areas of the Americas, Antarctica, Europe and Africa on Sunday May 15 and Monday May 16.
The total eclipse occurred when the moon moved into the umbral or deeper shadow of the Earth. As sunlight refracted off the edges of our planet’s atmosphere, the red hue shone off the moon’s surface.
The big event began with a partial eclipse on Sunday, May 15 at 10:28 p.m. EDT (02:28 GMT on Monday, May 16), according to TimeandDate.com. The Blood Moon peaks around 12:11 a.m. EDT (0411 GMT), with the eclipse ending at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0555 GMT).
A penumbral eclipse, which occurs when the moon passes the edge of Earth’s shadow, began and ended about an hour after the partial eclipse in New Zealand, Eastern Europe and the Middle -East. This produced a more subtle effect, as Earth’s faint shadow fell on the moon, which was only visible under certain conditions.
The red color was very apparent in this LiveScience Reader photo taken by Robyn and Mike Morris of San Bruno, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico.
From Houston, reader Rukhsar Mahmood captured the moon just before it began to be covered by Earth’s shadow.
“The experience was great,” Mahmood wrote. “I loved watching the moon look so big in the evening, and it started to get smaller. Then it started to be covered by this red/black shield, and slowly the whole moon was covered and the moonlight n was nowhere in sight.”
You can see the haunting moon image below.
The full ruddy color of the blood moon was captured in this reader photo by Gregg Collins in Bend, Oregon.
Lunar eclipse tonight!#LunarEclipse #waukee #iowa pic.twitter.com/WetSnvj2k2May 16, 2022
@NASA_Lunar #LunarEclipse #lunareclipse2022 from South Africa pic.twitter.com/pyIPPCDgJRMay 16, 2022
Looks like a sci-fi movie out there with the lunar eclipse.#totaleclipseoftheheart #LunarEclipse pic.twitter.com/wioOnaE4ufMay 16, 2022
Amazing #LunarEclipse #LunarEclipse tonight here in #ElCampello, Spain! Pure magic! Seen from the 14th floor of Rompeolas, #CaboVerde. 🤩🌑🌚 pic.twitter.com/KZdBNePnfUMay 16, 2022
This is the blood moon! It fades in the sun lever in France 🤩😍🤩😍👏. Magnificent spectacle of our cosmic ballet. #moon #LunarEclipse #eclipse #LUNA pic.twitter.com/QBjpIu0cE6May 16, 2022
Brighton, UK 4:10am #LunarEclipse pic.twitter.com/aGvWU5pMY0May 16, 2022
Lunar eclipse was cool #LunarEclipse pic.twitter.com/YL9l0c7knxMay 16, 2022
#LunarEclipse seen from #Venice #Italy pic.twitter.com/cFtoe16pejMay 16, 2022
The second (and final) lunar eclipse of this year will occur on November 8, 2022 with at least partial visibility from Asia, Australia, North America, parts of northern and eastern Australia. Europe, the Arctic and most of South America. Our sister website, Space.com, also has eclipses further into the future.
Editor’s note: If you take a great lunar eclipse photo and want to share it with Live Science readers, send your photo(s), comments, and name and location to community@livescience.com.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace.