16 Stunning Photos of Wednesday Morning's Rare 'Blood Moon' Lunar Eclipse
Early Wednesday morning, lucky stargazers were treated to an extremely rare, and very beautiful, cosmic sight.
For a few hours, skywatchers saw what happens when the total eclipse of the moon is matched by a rising sun, resulting in a "selenelion," which celestial geometry says shouldn't actually exist. But thanks to the Earth's atmosphere, both the sun and the moon are visible through atmospheric refraction, which basically means you can see the sun before it actually rises and the moon after it's actually set. Suffice it to say, the results are pretty cool.
Depending on the exact angle and location of the view, some vistas of the moon will look more "bloody" than others, but they're all brilliant. Take a look:
