Total Lunar Eclipse 2014 — Moon Turns Blood Red. Enjoy the Time-Lapse Video.

Millions of stargazers across North and South America were mesmerized with the first total lunar eclipse of 2014. It occurred between late Monday to early Tuesday, April 15, and lasted for 3.5 hours. After the the Earth’s shadow gobbled up the moon into absolute darkness, a mysterious and weird red ball showed up. Yes, the moon’s face has turned into an eerie celestial sighting  —- the so-called “Blood Moon.”

To learn more about the eclipse, here’s the info from Space.com :

The word “eclipse” means to obscure. When the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, it’s called a solar eclipse. When the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, it is a lunar eclipse.

The Earth casts its shadow far out into space, beyond the orbit of the moon. Once in a while the moon passes through the shadow, and an eclipse occurs.

Lunar eclipses occur in pairs with solar eclipses, two weeks apart. This is because the Earth, sun and moon must be aligned for an eclipse to occur, and the alignment can only happen twice during the moon’s month-long orbit.

A lunar eclipse lasts for hours as the moon slowly orbits through the Earth’s shadow.

If the moon passes through the edge of Earth’s shadow, it’s called a partial eclipse. Passage through the dense center of the shadow is a total lunar eclipse.