Did you get to see the “Blood Moon?” If yes, we bet you added to the world’s one big collective “wow” Sunday night by saying it a few times.
Some local residents stationed themselves out at Ned’s Point to watch the total lunar eclipse of the supermoon, and probably billions of others around the world were doing the same from Alaska all the way to India.
All eyes were on the heavens the night of September 27 when the moon passed through the Earth’s shadow while also at its closest proximity to Earth of the year, known as a perigee full moon, a supermoon, a celestial culmination of events that has not happened since 1982 – the proverbial stars were indeed aligned for the manifestation of such a monumental moon.
Tri-Town was spared a prior forecast of partly cloudy skies, offering an unobstructed view of the total eclipse of the moon as the shadow first fell at 9:07 pm, spreading across the face of the moon until complete coverage at precisely 10:11 pm. The total eclipse lasted an hour and 12 minutes before the shadow slowly waned, coming to completion at 12:27 am.
There were Blood Moon gatherings all over Tri-Town, and those that chose the Mattapoisett landmark Ned’s Point as their preferred vantage point found company with dozens of others who oohed and aahed at the striking sight of it all.
Sunday night’s astronomic event was a rare one, indeed. There have only been five supermoon eclipses since the year 1900. The next supermoon total eclipse will not occur again until the year 2033.
By Jean Perry
