The Supermoon Lunar Eclipse occurred this year at close to midnight on September 27th. People all over the country stayed up late to watch the moon turn red so that they would be able to witness this rare event in their lifetime.

A Supermoon happens when a full or new moon coincidentally gets as close as it can to the Earth in its orbit, so that from our point of view, the Moon has grown in size by around 14 percent, and it becomes 30 percent brighter in the sky before getting engulfed by the eclipse.  It usually happens about once every year. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth, Sun, and Moon are in perfect alignment, with the Earth in the middle of the line and the Sun and Moon on either side. A lunar eclipse happens at least twice every year, although the number depends on the year. So, a supermoon and a lunar eclipse combine together to form the Supermoon Lunar Eclipse, which would seem like an expanded and brighter red moon from Earth’s perspective, although there is no physical difference on the Moon.

According to NASA, the entire lunar eclipse lasted an hour and 12 minutes. The partial lunar eclipse began at 7 pm, and the moon reached the peak during 9 pm, giving the moon the reddish color that we can see from Earth. The total eclipse began at 9:11 pm, and reached its maximum at 9:47 pm. The moon was out of the Earth’s shadow by 12:22 am. The last time that this phenomenon had happened was in 1982, and it will not happen again until the year of 2033.

“It was fascinating to watch the moon ‘disappear’,” said Mrs. Ali. “Next time, I hope to have a telescope set up to get a closer look. I know other places around the world had a spectacular view of this occurrence.”

Most people could see the Supermoon Lunar Eclipse from where they were, and just had to step outside to see the moon. Several websites watched the eclipse online, including NASA, Virtual Telescope, and Sky and Telescope. Many people also took lots of pictures and posted them on the Internet, so those who missed the Supermoon Lunar Eclipse could see the pictures online.