WOW!!! Who saw tuesday nights luna rossa eclipse?
it was amaziing!!! but what actually happened?
A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes through the Earth's shadow while the moon, sun and Earth are directly aligned.
The Earth's shadow blocks the light that normally reflects off the moon, and the moon visibly dims, as light is bent by the Earth's atmosphere into the shadow.
If there is enough dust in the Earth's atmosphere, the surface will appear blood red.
The last total lunar eclipse, sometimes called a blood moon eclipse, seen in New Zealand was in July 2000.
Total eclipses are rare because the sun is usually above or below the plane of the Earth's orbit.
The next total lunar eclipse in which all stages will be visible from New Zealand is not due until 2014.
The eclipse started about 7.50pm as the moon slowly moved into the Earth's shadow, but only became visible after 8.50pm.
The moon was expected turn a coppery colour between 9.50pm and 11.55pm last night, when it would start to move out of the shadow and was expected to be back to normal shortly before 12.30am today.
