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A blood-red moon dazzled astronomers in much of the world when it shifted into the shadow of the Earth for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
From the Cape of Good Hope in the Middle East and the Kremlin to Sydney Harbor, thousands of people turned their eyes to the stars to watch the moon go dark before shining orange, brown, and purple in the shade.
The total eclipse lasted 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, although a partial eclipse preceded and followed, meaning that the moon will spend a total of nearly 4 hours in the shadow of the Earth, according to NASA.
The most complete eclipse was visible from Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East and much of Asia and Australia although clouds have blocked the moon in some places.
The eclipse will not be visible from North America or most of the Pacific.
Reuters mapped the entire world eclipse, capturing a glistening orange and red moon over Cairo, the Temple of Poseidon near Athens, the Bavarian village of Raisting in Germany, Rio beach at Brazil and Johannesburg.
In Nairobi, Kenyans watched the moon darken.
"It's like that that's life: magical moments like this," said Teddy Muthusi while watching from Uhuru Park in Nairobi: "It's just gorgeous, that worth it."
On the banks of the Indian Ganges, the temples were closed before the eclipse. Enthusiasts looked through telescopes at Singapore's South Pier Marina and at the Al Sadeem Observatory in Al Wathba near Abu Dhabi.
Hundreds of people in Australia paid to watch the eclipse of the Sydney Observatory before sunrise.
When the moon moved into the conical shadow of the earth, it was illuminated by the sun to be dark. Somelight, however, reaches it again because it is bent by the atmosphere of the Earth.
"This is what is called a blood moon because sunlight flows through the atmosphere of the Earth towards the moon, and the Earth's atmosphere becomes red in the same way as the sun "Fabian, professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge, told Reuters
At the same time, Mars is getting closer to the Earth since 2003, so some Observers can see what looks like a red-orange star – and it's actually the red planet.
"It's a very unusual coincidence to have a total lunar eclipse and march to opposition the same night," said Robert Mbadey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, which observed the eclipse of the Mediterranean Sea.
For thousands of years, man has looked upon the heavens for omens of misery, of victory, and of joy. The Bible contains references to the moon that turns into blood, and some ultra-Orthodox Jews consider disturbing lunar eclipses and a cause for moral contemplation.
According to some Hindu beliefs, celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon emit negative energy during an eclipse and the sosomic temples of India are closed to minimize any disturbance.
Astronomers, however, said that there was no reason to worry.
"There is no reason to believe that blood moons predict death," Mbadey said. "This does not announce the apocalypse: seeing a lunar eclipse and Mars in the sky is something that people should enjoy rather than worry about."
The next lunar eclipse of such length is planned for 2123.
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