Tonight held a treat of a total lunar eclipse, one referred to as Super Blood Wolf Moon lunar eclipse.  “Super” refers to the fact that the Moon will be closest to the Earth in its orbit when the total eclipse takes place. The reddish hue the Moon takes on during the eclipse gives it the “blood” name. The Old Farmer’s Almanac contributes the “wolf” name, as full moons in January are known as Full Wolf Moons. Course when the skies are clear for the full moon in January, it normally means a cold night and very true tonight with below zero temperatures. So I didn’t stay outside to take a picture every few minutes like I have done in past even though I will have to wait until May 2021 to try again.

Super Blood Wolf Moon

The night sky put on a nice treat, but this time it wasn’t a colorful orange-red sunset as the moon took on the blood color this time and the Blood Moon is the fourth and final eclipse of a lunar tetrad (four straight total eclipses of the moon, spaced at six full moons apart).  It is also the Northern Hemisphere’s Harvest Moon, or full moon nearest the September equinox. In addition, tonight’s moon is a Supermoon, as it happens to be the moon’s closest encounter with Earth for all of 2015, making it appear 14% larger and 33% brighter than other full moons.  The combination of a supermoon with an eclipse is a rare treat, with the last one occurring in 1982 and the next one in 2033.

I wish I was still on vacation to take the lunar eclipse next to a lighthouse, but since I wasn’t nor did I have any unique structure to line up with the moon, I just took close up pictures of the super duper lunar event.

Super Duper Lunar