'Blood Moon' Eclipse: Best Pictures Of Amazing Sight Above America

America Witnesses 'Blood Moon' Eclipse

In ancient times, a 'blood moon' - where the silent, bright Moon turns suddenly crimson in the sky - could be interpreted as a warning of evil events to come.

These days? It's great fodder for Instagram.

The total lunar eclipse lasted for about three hours, unfolding slowly over the skies of the Americas.

There will be three further eclipses in 2014 - a solar eclipse on 29 April, a total lunar eclipse in October and a partial solar eclipse on 23 October.

"At the instant of greatest eclipse the Moon lies at the zenith for a point in the South Pacific about 3000 km southwest of the Galapagos Islands. The umbral eclipse magnitude[2] peaks at 1.2907 as the Moon's northern limb passes 1.7 arc-minutes south of the shadow's central axis. In contrast, the Moon's southern limb lies 9.0 arc-minutes from the southern edge of the umbra and 40.0 arc-minutes from the shadow centre.

Thus, the northern half of the Moon will appear much darker than the southern half because it lies deeper in the umbra. Since the Moon samples a large range of umbral depths during totality, its appearance will change significantly with time."

Americans witnessing the rare Lunar eclipse have taken to social media to share their pictures.

Here are some of our favourites:

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