Some LB Photos of Tonight's "Supermoon" Total Lunar Eclipse

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(Sept. 27, 2015) -- With a few clouds and haze near the horizon adding an eerie effect, Long Beach saw an awesome total eclipse of a "Supermoon" (appearing larger than usual) as it fell into Earth's shadow. The total eclipse created a brownish/reddish sight instead of the usual white reflected light. Moonrise began (at the horizon) at 6:39 p.m. at 91 degrees east, and (from ELB) was partially obscured by haze. Sunset came a few minutes later at 6:43 p.m. and the sky was clear (in ELB) by the time the moon rose higher in sky and the total eclipse began at 7:11 p.m.

The eclipse reached its peak at 7:47 p.m.; totality ended at 8:23 p.m.; and the final umbral eclipse was over by 9:27 p.m.

Below are a few sights we captured. Our son, Max combined science, photo savvy and creativity in a photo of the moon during its total eclipse (displaying its atmospheric-scattered reddish/brown color) while using a time exposure to capture the path of a jet plane as it passed by. See it (and other photos as we get them) below.

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Total lunar eclipse, Sept. 27, 2015, in time lapse as jet plane passes by. Photo by Max Pearl

Below is LBREPORT.com's Security Director, "Finn," pondering the lunar eclipse as it began shortly before 7:00 p.m.

Photo by Bill Pearl

If you have photos you'd like to share, email them to us at mail@LBReport.com or put them on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lbreport. Let us know if you'd like us to use your name and where you were and how you got the shot (cell phone or fancy equipment.)

And here's the science stuff:

[NASA.gov text] The moon does not make its own light; it reflects light it receives from the sun. During a lunar eclipse, the moon appears less and less bright as sunlight is blocked by the Earth's shadow. As totality approaches, sunlight reaches the moon indirectly and is refracted around the "edges" of Earth, through Earth's atmosphere. Because of this, almost all colors except red are "filtered" out, and the eclipsed moon appears reddish or dark brown. This filtering is caused by particulates in our atmosphere; when there have been a lot of fires and/or volcanic eruptions, lunar eclipses will appear darker and redder. This eerie -- but harmless -- effect has earned the phenomenon the nickname "blood moon."

The next time a total eclipse of a "Supermoon" will be visible here will be in 2033.

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