These two events occurred as the full moon was at the point in its orbit closest to Earth, which makes it appear slightly larger. That's a blood moon, a blue moon, and a supermoon all at the same time.

Moon gazers came out in droves around the world to watch the event, and many of their pictures are breathtaking.

Here's how the moon looked from Hong Kong to San Diego:

Astronomy enthusiasts around the world — including this group at the Beijing Planetarium — gathered with telescopes in anticipation of the lunar event.

In Beijing, the full lunar eclipse was visible at night, after moonrise.

In Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the full moon could be seen between waving British and Chinese flags — British Prime Minister Theresa May is currently visiting China.

During a lunar eclipse, the moon transitions into partial shadow (called the penumbra) before going into full shadow (umbra) then back into penumbra.

The reddish color the moon takes on happens because of the way Earth's atmosphere bends the sun's light. The lucky parts of the world that got to see that full effect included Hong Kong...

St. Petersburg, Russia...

Jakarta, Indonesia...

And Tokyo, Japan.

New Yorkers only got a partial view of the lunar eclipse, since the full effect occurred after sunrise on the US East Coast. Here the moon seen hovering over the Staten Island Ferry.

The western US, however, got a better show. The super blue blood moon looked especially red in this view from Oceanside, California.

In this shot, the eclipse is almost complete over Southern California.

While it's not easy to take pictures of this kind of event with smartphone cameras, photographers and astronomers used telephoto lenses and tripods to capture some dramatic shots, like this one in San Diego.

In this image from Singapore, the reddish eclipsed moon (bottom right) is contrasted against the pink lights of a Ferris wheel.

While supermoons and blue moons are both fairly common on their own, this rare alignment of three events was a treat for those who took the time to look up.

 

 

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