One seasoned observer called it the brightest eclipse he's ever seen, the color more pronounced and enduring than in 11 past eclipses. Amateur astrophotographers used digital cameras -- often held by hand up to a telescope -- to record the eclipse digitally as never before.
Kelly Holland, a Maryland resident visiting friends in Philadelphia, stepped onto the front porch frequently on a chilly night to watch her first total lunar eclipse. She carried alternately a niece and nephew so they could see the show, too.
"I think it's pretty cool," Holland said as clouds drifted across the Moon shortly after it had slipped into what astronomers call totality, when the only natural satellite of Earth is enveloped completely in the planet's shadow.
The spectacle was visible from North and South America and much of Europe and Africa. It was underway when the Moon rose at sunset along the western coast of the Americas.
In Europe the heart of it took place early Sunday morning.
During much of the eclipse, including all of totality, the Moon was tinted orange or copper, as all the world's sunrises and sunsets sent sunlight angling through Earth's atmosphere and onto the Moon and back. A lunar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth and Moon are all in a perfect line.
This eclipse was more colorful than some, as astronomers had predicted, because the Moon skirted near the bottom of the circular shadow presented by Earth, putting it closer to the refracted red sunlight. (Blue light from the Sun is scattered more in Earth's atmosphere and does not penetrate it so easily. This same science is behind blue skies and red sunsets.)
Had anyone been watching from the Moon, Earth would have been ringed by red light as it blocked out the Sun.
Because the Moon was near the bottom of the dark full shadow of Earth, called the umbra, lower regions of the satellite retained a silvery glint throughout.
"The eclipse we have just seen was the brightest eclipse of the twelve total lunar [eclipses] that I have witnessed, going back to December 1964," said Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Night Sky columnist. "I've never seen the ruddy coloration within the Earth's umbra persist for such a long interval of time."
And it was dramatic with or without the aid of a telescope. Dan Van Fossen of Philadelphia took up an offer to view the eclipsed Moon through an 8-inch telescope, which revealed lunar craters, the calling cards of ancient asteroids, cast in an eerie, faint orange glow.
"It looks as cool with the naked eye as it does through the telescope," Van Fossen said. "It's just a different perspective."
The show began just past 6 p.m. ET for those favorably located, as a faint outer shadow of Earth became noticeable on the lunar surface. At 6:33 p.m., as predicted, the umbra began to take a bite out of the Moon. The Moon entered total eclipse at 8:06 p.m. and a slice of white emerged 25 minutes later, the umbra continuing to draw across the face of the Moon for some time.
Eclipses can only occur at Full Moon. But not every Full Moon generates one, because the Moon's orbit is tilted about 5 degrees compared to the Earth's plane of orbit around the Sun. The Moon is sometimes above this plane and sometimes below it -- in both cases out of reach of Earth's shadow. As many as three lunar eclipses can occur in a single year, but some years there are none.
 | Click to enlarge images
Samuel Gan of Philadelphia imaged the Moon when it was about 35 percent covered, using an HP Photosmart 320 Digicam held to the eyepiece of binoculars. "Believe it or not," he said. We do, and we're impressed how many people did great astrophotography in similar easy fashion. |
 | Becky Ramotowski took this image of the eclipse, as thin clouds cleared, from a high mesa overlooking Albuquerque. "We also had a great view of the Sandia Mountains to our East," she said. "Just as my husband & I spotted the Moon rising over Sandia Peak, we heard chanting and drum beats off in the distance. It was a very special moment, and really added to the excitement of eclipse watching." |
 | Others opted for a more detailed view with high-end equipment. Don Signori of Toronto used a Nexstar 9.25" telescope and a Sony DSC F707 Digital camera for this shot, about 5 minutes after the total phase ended. Note how the upper reaches of the Moon are darkest, because they're farthest from the edge of Earth's shadow. |
 | The Moon was not brilliantly colored for all viewers at all times. David Quint captured the Moon as many saw it, with just subtle hints of the red light bounced off the Moon, a result of all the world's sunrises and sunsets refracted through Earth's atmosphere. |
 | Bill Lohrer imaged the Moon just before it entered total eclipse. From Long Island, NY, he used an Olympus Camedia 2040 attached to a Celestron Nexstar8 telescope, with a 40mm lens and the camera un-zoomed. |
 | Firas Ghanim imaged the eclipse from Amman, Jordan with a zoom lens on an Olympus C-730 UZ camera. |
 | Alice Fok of New York City recorded the eclipsed Moon exactly as many of us will remember it, orange-tinted, glowing and lonely. |
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