On the off chance that you weren’t one of the many people who stayed up late to watch the blood moon, NASA has got you covered with a video of the crimson event. Last night an event known as a blood moon appeared between 2 and 4:30 am ET in the North American sky. A blood moon happens when Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon, but instead of going dark, the moon is eerily lit by refracted light that leaks around the planet – essentially reflecting all of the Earth’s sunsets and sunrises onto the surface of the moon at once.
TheGriffith Observatory in Los Angeles filmed the entire process, posting the three hour video to Ustream so that anyone who was asleep or not in a good location for viewing can get in on the rare event. The Griffith Observatory also hosted thousands of people for viewing the eclipse last night, providing space on the lawn and telescopes for the event. Lucky attendees also got the opportunity to look through the observatory’s Zeiss telescope, the most looked-through telescope in the world.
Related: Berlin’s Zeiss Planetarium Has a Brilliant LED Ceiling and Über-Futuristic Cafe Inside!
The blood moon doesn’t happen every year. In fact, before the 20th century there was a 300 year stretch in which there wasn’t a single blood moon. But if you missed the event and the video just doesn’t cut it for you, there are still a few more opportunities to see a blood moon over the next two years. If you slack on those opportunities though, you will just have to wait around until 2032. Until then, you can watch the video here.
Via CNN
