Sky watchers in some parts of the country witnessed one of the greatest sky spectacles of the year Wednesday morning as a full moon, supermoon and lunar eclipse happened at the same time, creating the super flower blood moon.
While the biggest, brightest supermoon of the year will illuminate the sky Wednesday, the total eclipse was only visible for about 15 minutes and only in some western parts of the U.S., where watchers were able to see the full moon turn to a rusty red as it dipped into Earth's shadow.
But what exactly is a super flower blood moon?
The "super" refers to the supermoon, which occurs when the moon looks a bit bigger than usual since it's a bit closer to the Earth.
"Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit," according to NASA.
On average, supermoons appear about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full moon. This full moon was the closest one of the year, making it the second of two supermoons.
The flower moon name is given to May's full moon because "flowers spring forth across North America in abundance this month," the Old Farmer's Almanac said.
Lastly, the blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse when the Earth is between the full moon and the sun. The Earth's shadow covers the moon, which often has a red color, hence the "blood" moon nickname.
If you missed this one, don't worry. The country and Canada will get to witness a 99% lunar eclipse high on the horizon with little obstruction on Nov. 19, 2021, according to the Almanac.
And to see a video replay of the lunar eclipse, many observatories across the West livestreamed their views of the moon, including Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Take a look at some spectacular images of the super flower blood moon:
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
