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Supermoon Puts On Stunning Late Night Show In The Sky

DETROIT  - The supermoon eclipse put on a stunning show for millions of stargazers across the U.S. and other parts of the world Sunday night. A little after 9 p.m. Eastern time, the full moon began disappearing into the shadow cast by the Earth, and by 10:11 p.m. EDT it was completely hidden in a total lunar eclipse.

Along the way, many saw the moon bathed in a reddish glow -- a so-called "blood moon" that results when the moon is hit by sunlight bent by the Earth's atmosphere.

It was the first time since 1982 that a total lunar eclipse has coincided with a supermoon -- a full moon that's at the closest point of its elliptical orbit to Earth, making it appear bigger and brighter than usual.

And in a development no one in 1982 could have predicted, this time the phenomenon had its own hashtag: #superbloodmoon

Twitter feeds quickly filled up with photos of the glowing moon moving, shifting, and changing color.

Cellphone cameras couldn't really do it justice.

Unfortunately, not everyone got the view they were hoping for. Parts of the South, Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes were socked in by clouds and missed the show.

The supermoon eclipse marked the end of a tetrad, a series of four total lunar eclipses each occurring about six months apart. This series began in April 2014.

Enjoy the pictures online -- you won't get another chance to see a supermoon eclipse in real life until 2033.

 

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