"Blood Moon" Eclipse

In case you missed the eclipse last night, either because you're not in a part of the world where it was visible or because you had better things to do (like sleep), here is a neat composite image via NBC News:


And if you regretted missing this one, don't fear:

The last total lunar eclipse took place in December 2011, but Tuesday's eclipse kicked off a string of four such events, known as a tetrad. The series is dictated by a recurrence of the right orbital parameters every six months or so. The other three eclipses in the set are due on Oct. 8, and then next year on April 4 and Sept. 28.

"The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA," eclipse expert Fred Espenak said in a NASA preview.

...Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are visible to half the world at the same time. This time around, North America was prime territory, but portions of the eclipse could be seen from parts of South America, Europe and Asia just before sunrise, and parts of Asia and the Pacific just after sunset.

This week is also a great time to scan the skies for Mars, which is the closest it's been to Earth since 2007.