Minnesotans look up to witness total eclipse of the moon

January 20, 2019 10:30 PM

The celestial curtain rose on a lunar extravaganza.

On Sunday night, the Earth lit directly between the moon and the sun, creating a total lunar eclipse. There won't be another until 2021.

It will also be the year's first supermoon, when a full moon appears a little bigger and brighter thanks to its slightly closer position.

The entire eclipse exceeds three hours. Totality, when the moon's completely bathed in the Earth's shadow, lasted an hour. Expect the eclipsed, or blood moon, to turn red from sunlight scattering off Earth's atmosphere.

The Bell Museum in St. Paul held a star-watching party Sunday evening. A large group came out to look at the moon in very cold weather.

"It's darn cold out here I wish it was a little warmer," Dave Johnson with Minnesota Astronomical Society said. "I really enjoy showing people a view of the moon they've never seen before. It's funny how many people haven't even just looked up to see it let alone from a telescope."

Everyone everywhere can catch the supermoon, weather permitting. But the entire eclipse was visible only in North and South America, and across the Atlantic to western and northern Europe.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.