The longest lunar eclipse in more than a decade turned the moon blood red on Thursday, yielding a rare visual treat for stargazers across a large swathe of the planet from Australia to Europe.
The first eclipse of the year — when the Earth casts its shadow over the moon — was seen in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Often the moon turns brown in an eclipse but this time it became a reddish, coppery colour.
The terrestrial shadow started to fall at 1724 GMT and lifted around 2300 GMT, although “totality” — when the lunar face is completely covered — lasted 100 minutes. That was the longest since July 2000.
