By Gabriella Payne
On the evening of Wednesday 26 May, you really could see ‘by the light of the silvery moon’ as a rare lunar eclipse and super blood moon graced the skies above us.
Thousands of people stepped outside and stood in awe to watch the event, which saw the first lunar eclipse in more than two years coincide with a super ‘blood’ moon, turning it a beautiful orangish-red as it rose in the night sky.
The ‘blood’ red colour is caused by all the sunrises and sunsets in the Earth’s atmosphere being projected onto the surface of the moon, while a total lunar eclipse is when the Earth’s shadow blocks the sun’s light, making the moon seemingly ‘disappear’.
Stargazers around the world were delighted to watch the spectacular event unfold over a number of hours, but Australians in particular had the perfect view.
The team at the Mount Burnett Observatory had been gearing up all week for the big night and were thrilled to help live stream the special event to thousands of viewers worldwide.
James Murray, the president of the Mount Burnett Observatory said that they had had “a huge response” from people online, with many sending their own photos in from all across the country.
“It was great,” Mr Murray said.
“We had a couple of thousand people watching from all across Australia, and 10,000 people were watching in Russia, as we did a live cross to our sister observatory in Irkustsk.”
Mr Murray and the Mount Burnett Observatory team kindly shared a few photos with us of the spectacular lunar event for those who missed it.
Not bad for a Wednesday night!
