LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Three relatively rare lunar events converged early Wednesday, Jan. 31, creating an almost unheard-of space spectacle that had sky-gazers waking up early to stare upwards. Hundreds went to the Griffith Observatory for an early morning eclipse party.
NASA called it a “Super Blue Blood Moon,” a collection of a supermoon, a blue moon and a blood moon that delighted space buffs.
Essentially, a lunar eclipse occurred during a blue moon, which is the description given to the second full moon of a calendar month. It also occurred during a supermoon, which happens when the moon is at its closest point to the Earth, making it appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual.
A blood moon occurs during a lunar eclipse when the Earth passes between the moon and sun, giving the moon a reddish tint.
So with Wednesday morning’s eclipse, there was a combination of a super, blue and blood moon. The same convergence happened in 1982, but this will be the first time a “super blood blue moon” was visible in the Western Hemisphere since 1866.