Early morning eclipse produces rare sight

(CNS): Those who were able to stay awake into the early hours of Tuesday morning were treated to a relatively rare and beautiful sight as clear skies over Cayman gave a great view of the full moon lunar eclipse. The total lunar eclipse took place over three hours as the Moon moved into the Earth’s shadow and was seen across most of North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. The moon changed colour from orange to blood red from around 1am to 4am local time. The Earth’s natural satellite was shrouded in a reddish glow for well over an hour, living up to the description of a blood moon.

Three further eclipses will occur this year with an annular solar eclipse on 29 April, a total lunar eclipse again on 8 October and a partial solar eclipse on 23 October. Tuesday’s eclipse was particularly special as alongside the red moon observers could also see the planet Mars, which was on its closest approach to Earth since 2008.