If you were outside at around seven o’clock yesterday evening you may have caught the full lunar eclipse in the night sky. Eclipses of these sort occur when the moon, Earth and sun are in perfect alignment during a full moon. The moon moves into the Earth’s umbral shadow and our planet blocks the Sun’s reflection off the moon. This movement began at around 5:43 p.m. Pacific time and by 7 p.m. the moon was in full eclipse, an event lasting about 51 minutes By 9 p.m. the moon moved out of the Earth’s shadow.
On the South Coast the event was partially covered by cloudy skies, but skywatchers could still catch a good part of the eclipse.
A full lunar eclipse won’t come around again for another couple of years.