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 but this time it became a reddish, coppery-colour, tinged by light from the Sun.
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 the longest since July 2000.
Astronomer-in-charge at Australian Astronomical Observatory, said the best view would have been from the moon itself. "If you could watch the phenomena, you would see the earth moving across the sun and it creating a brilliant red rim around the earth," he said.
The eclipse was widely seen across India with crowds gathered at the country's leading planetarium in the capital New Delhi. The Nehru planetarium organised an overnight ‘moon carnival’ to familiarise visitors, setting up special viewing telescopes.
But traditionalists were not as enthusiastic about the planetary changes, with authorities at several Indian temples reportedly shutting their doors to protect them from the supposed ‘evil effects’ of the eclipse.
While the phenomenon could not be seen everywhere in the world, including the United States, space lovers still got a chance to see it unfold with Google teaming up with Slooh.com.
