I only heard about the supermoon lunar eclipse when my brother mentioned it to me on Saturday night. I always seem to hear about these big celestial events just after they’ve happened so it was a real treat to be able to experience it for myself this time. I did my research yesterday and found out that the full lunar eclipse was due to take place just after 3am and would last for around an hour and ten minutes. As a supermoon lunar eclipse hasn’t occurred since 1982 and won’t take place again until 2033, I wasn’t going to miss it!
I therefore set my alarm to wake up at 4am while the eclipse was in full swing just have a look and head back to bed. But when we saw how big and bright the ‘supermoon’ was when the sun set, my husband set up the tripod and took a couple of shots of the moon. I was surprised how well the images came out and was determined to get just one photo of the blood super moon during the night. 
Happily, I woke up naturally at 2:45am, which never happens to me – perhaps it was the celestial pull of the moon that woke me? – and we got up to check out the moon. It was a gorgeous crescent shape but at the base of the moon rather than the waxing or waning moon we’re used to seeing in the sky. The shadow was already a rusty red colour so we took some more photos before, disappointingly, the clouds came over and covered the moon entirely.
The supermoon occurs when the full moon is at it’s closest point in it’s elliptical orbit to our planet (perigee) and will look around 7% bigger than it normally does. Last night the whole garden was illuminated by the brightness of the moon in the clear sky, looking almost like daylight. The last time that a lunar eclipse could be viewed in it’s entirety from the UK was 2008 and won’t happen again until 2019 (bbc.co.uk) so this ‘blood moon’ coinciding with the supermoon is a rather special celestial event indeed! 
I’m really chuffed that I got to see the moon be eclipsed by the Earth’s shadow and, thankfully, that the clouds moved away for long enough that we could get a couple of photos of the blood moon before it was engulfed in cloud-cover again. Did you see the Super Blood Moon last night? Did you manage to get any photos? I’d love to see them so please tweet me @Cassiefairy or tag me in your Instagram photos @Cassiefairy.
8 responses
Ahh that’s a shame Laura, I’ll be sure to let you know when I hear about the next big celestial event and make sure you don’t miss it! xxx
Aw cheers Sophie! I never realised how good the lens on the camera was until we tried photographing the moon, the white moon showed up really clearly! X
Thanks so much Hannah, I was just lucky to be awake at the right time! X
I didn’t wake up for the eclipse and feel really disappointed with myself. This was a great substitute and these photos are so clear, thanks for sharing Cassie! x
WOW!!! These are amazing – how clever are you! x
Wow Cassie these are amazing. Wish I had stayed up for it now!
Thanks Caz, it was tricky but we got out the camera remote control & held the shutter open & hoped for the best! I’m sure the pics could have been better if I had adjusted the settings but I too was too tired! At least we got to see it, yay!
You’ve managed to get some great pictures here. Well done! I woke up at 3:20, just in time to watch the lunar eclipse from our window. I tried to shoot a few pics with my DSLR but I was too sleepy to adjust the settings so in the end I got some taken with my iphone. It was a phenomenal natural spectacle!
Caz | Style Lingua