While you were sleeping: Footage of the 'Blood Moon'
Digital Reporter
Tuesday, April 15, 2014, 1:04 PM -
For a brief moment early Tuesday morning, eyeballs turned toward the moon.
Crowds worldwide stepped outside in the wee hours to catch a glimpse of the coppery red moon as it crossed the Earth's shadow.
LUNAR ECLIPSE: Ways to photograph the event
In Los Angeles, the chance to view the total lunar eclipse lured thousands to the Griffith Observatory.
Families spread out blankets on the grass to take in views from dozens of telescopes set up like a stand of small trees.
The rare opportunity was also captured by many here at home.
Despite the cloud cover forecast across much of the country, several Canadians submitted their photos to theweathernetwork.com.
Here's a look at some of those amazing submissions:
"BLOOD MOON"
Moncton, New Brunswick
"BEFORE ECLIPSE"
Moncton, New Brunswick
"BLOOD MOON, SPICA AND MARS"
Moncton, New Brunswick
"LUNAR ECLIPSE"
Location unknown
"START OF LUNAR ECLIPSE"
Location unknown
"BLOOD MOON"
Moncton, New Brunswick
"ECLIPSE"
New Minas, Nova Scotia
"TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE"
Red Deer, Alberta
"Sometimes the most interesting eclipse pictures can include a little bit of cloud cover as long as the clouds are not completely obscuring the moon," says Weather Network meteorologist and photographer Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn. "The beauty of these types of events is that you can take pictures of this from a city or even a dark rural location. You just need to check to make sure that there are no physical obstructions blocking the view. Sometimes it is really fun to plan out a photograph so that there are terrestrial objects in the frame near the moon like mountains, water, buildings or landmarks."
If you missed Tuesday morning's eclipse, there will be more opportunities.
It's the first in a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses known as the "Tetrad."
The phenomenon will repeat itself three more times in six month intervals ending in September 2015.
"They are truly a beautiful spectacle and it's one of the easiest astronomical events to observe pretty much from anywhere along it's path," says Lecky Hepburn.
Lunar eclipses are less rare than solar eclipses because of how close the moon is to earth. The shadow of the moon is much smaller than the shadow of the earth.
