Partial lunar eclipse wows sky-watchers across the world

Credit: Peter Komka

Credit: Peter Komka

While the Great American Eclipse is the one everyone in the United States is talking about, those living in the Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia had a show in the sky all their own.

A lunar eclipse brought many sky-watchers to a standstill as part of the moon became obscured, viewed in some areas of the Earth, while others were able to experience a full red moon, Space.com reported.

There’s a connection between Monday’s partial eclipse and the upcoming Great American Eclipse.

This time the Earth was in the middle of the moon and sun, with the Earth casting a shadow on the moon, the Daily Mail reported.

A solar eclipse, according to Space.com, can only happen when the moon is at one of two nodes of its orbit, or when the moon crosses the path of the sun. During the solar eclipse, like the one later this month, the moon will cross from south to north. During Monday night's lunar eclipse, it was moving north to south and was shadowed by the Earth on its travels.

So why didn’t the U.S. see the lunar eclipse? It actually took place while the Western Hemisphere was turned away from the moon and was in the height of day.

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