Observers thrilled by supermoon total lunar eclipse

Astronomers circling the North Atlantic and in South America were treated to a spectacular total eclipse of the Moon that occurred at prime time for US-based stargazers Sunday night, 27 September and in the early hours of Monday morning for observers in Western Europe.

While ribbons of cloud crossed the British Isles in the small hours of 28 September, large swathes of southern and eastern England had clear skies for most of the event, amply rewarding those who chose to set their alarms to brave the chilly autumnal air.

The last time that a supermoon — a full Moon occurring when it is closest to the Earth in its orbit — coincided with a total lunar eclipse was 30 December 1982, hence the widespread interest in this morning’s event.

For those observers that were unfortunately clouded out, NASA’s online live streaming of the event broadcast from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with a live feed from the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, California, proved enormously popular.

Observers in the British Isles have to wait until the evening of Friday, 27 July 2018 for the next ‘normal’ total lunar eclipse visible from these shores, while the next totally eclipsed supermoon entails a slightly longer wait: 8 October 2033.