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See it! Super Blue Moon eclipse photos

Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, submitted this photo. It’s the fully eclipsed moon on January 31, 2018, 20 minutes into totality.

The total lunar eclipse of January 31, 2018, is over, and many saw it! The photos on this page were submitted or posted to EarthSky Facebook from around the world. The January 31 full moon is the third in a series of three straight full moon supermoons – that is, super-close full moons. It’s the first of two Blue Moons in 2018. So wasn’t just a total lunar eclipse, or a Blue Moon, or a supermoon. It was all three … a super Blue Moon total eclipse!

Mike O’Neal submitted this gorgeous shot. He wrote: “Could not quite get to full before the clouds rolled in over northeast Oklahoma.”

Here’s who saw the eclipse:

View larger. | Greatest eclipse happens at the same instant worldwide, but our clocks say different times. Chart by Fred Espenak. Click here for more details.

From the chart above, you can see that the eclipse wasn’t visible from the entire globe, and it took place at moonset for the Americas. So – in the photos that came into our site today, mostly from North America, but a few from other parts of the globe – we could see the progression in how people viewed the eclipse.

For example, those farthest east in North America saw the moon set while the partial eclipse was in progress:

George Preoteasa said he caught the very early partial eclipse from New York City, just before clouds intervened.
Meanwhile, from across the river in New Jersey, Chirag Upreti caught the partial eclipse at moonset over New York City’s Statue of Liberty. Notice the plane!
Eclipse-watchers viewed the setting moon from Englewood Beach, Florida. Photo by Kimberly King.
Ken Christison caught the partial eclipse at moonset from North Carolina.
Steve Scanlon Photography caught the partially eclipsed moon setting.
View larger. | Nice composite from Scarlet Bucket in Charleston, South Carolina, showing how the eclipse progressed as the moon got lower in the sky.

As the minutes ticked by, and the January 31 eclipse progressed, the line of sunrise – and corresponding line of moonset – was moving westward across North America.

That’s why those on the westernmost part of the continent saw the moon most fully eclipsed. Many had very good views indeed!

Eclipse guru Fred Espenak – whose calculations of eclipses have been a mainstay for eclipse observing for decades – wrote: “What a wonderful total lunar eclipse! This was my 30th, and the 1st one I’ve seen where the moon set during totality. Of course, for me, the totally eclipsed moon set behind the Chiricahua Mountains here in southern Arizona making for a most memorable view!”
Doug Groenhoff was also in southern Arizona – Tucson – when he caught this image. He wrote: “Supermoon eclipse this morning as the sky was starting to lighten up.”
See how high the eclipse is in the sky here, in contrast to the photos above from eastern North America? This photo comes from David Prosper in Richmond, California.
Photo by Ken Gallagher in Lake Havasu, Arizona.
Joel Dorfan captured the total eclipse from San Diego.

The eclipse wasn’t just a North American phenomenon. Look back at the map above, and you’ll see that those in Asia, Australia and New Zealand had a wonderful view of it!

Totally eclipsed moon on January 31, high in the sky as seen from Singapore by A. Kannan.
January 31 total lunar eclipse via Jenney Disimon in Sabah, North Borneo.

And then there was those who missed the eclipse entirely because of clouds or because of being on the wrong side of Earth – the daytime side – when this full moon eclipse took place. For those folks … yay online viewing!

Some people were clouded out, or on the wrong side of Earth to view the January 31 eclipse. That’s why many viewed it online. This photo is from George Mason in Bremerton, Washington.

And some didn’t see the eclipse, but simply enjoyed the splendor of the full moon, which was, after all, a supermoon and therefore brighter than an ordinary full moon.

Annie Lewis wrote, “Tonight’s moon rising in daylight. Madrid, Spain.”
Super Blue Moon over San Luis Obispo, California. Photographer Brady Cabe asked, “Do you see the plane?”

Bottom line: Photos from around the world of the January 31, 2018, Blue Moon, supermoon and total lunar eclipse! Thank you to all who submitted!

Posted 
January 31, 2018
 in 
Human World

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