As you probably know — since this is a family travel blog — we enjoy traveling. To enjoy the fascination and beauty of this particular total lunar eclipse, though, we only had to travel to the deck in the backyard.
As a matter of fact, on Sunday night, January 20th, 2019, people all over half of the world stayed up late and gathered together to journey with their eyes to see the Super Wolf Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse. It was not a major Holiday. It was not a sporting event. However, it was an event that, in a sense, brought together millions of people.
Did you watch the Total Lunar Eclipse?
The lunar eclipse was during the late night hours. A lot of people went to bed and did not get to see it in person. There were also a great many people who stayed awake, and, for many, bore the cold to enjoy the oohs and aahs and colors and sights of the lunar eclipse. Which did you do?
Why is it called that?
What is a Super Wolf Blood Moon, anyway? A supermoon occurs when the full moon comes closest to Earth in its orbit. At that time, the moon may appear a bit brighter or larger than usual. A wolf moon is the first full moon of the year. The January full moon was named after howling wolves who were said to howl during this time when they lamented the sparsity of food. When a full, lunar eclipse is in totality, the moon itself appears to be a reddish color. For that reason, it is called a blood moon.
Do you know how many different names our moon has at different times? If you are curious, here are some quick descriptions of a bunch of them. Maybe you have heard of a blue moon or a strawberry moon. Did you know that there is a flower moon, a buck moon, and even a sturgeon moon?
Psst. Are any of you other Disney people singing this in your head right now?
Plan Ahead for the Next One
Whether you were able to view this most current total lunar eclipse in person or not, there is plenty of time to plan ahead for the next one. Plenty of time. As a matter of fact, we made a point to stay up late for this event because there will not be another total lunar eclipse visible in North America until May 26th of 2021. There will be two in 2022 but then not another total lunar eclipse until 2025.
If you like the drama of a total solar eclipse, when they day may seem to turn to night and then back to daytime again, you will have to wait a few years longer. The next total solar eclipse visible in North America will be on April 8th, 2024.
Do you enjoy seeing interesting phenomenon in the sky that are unusual? You might want to set an alarm to remember to look for the Transit of Mercury on November 11th of 2019. When Mercury transits, it will pass directly between Earth and the sun. Mercury will appear as a small, black dot moving across the sun and should be visible from most of the world. While total eclipses of the sun and moon may be several years in between, Transit of Mercury is much more rare to see. After 2019, the next transit will be in 2032 and then again in 2049.
Here is one more picture from the Super Wolf Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse. How gorgeous is that?
Do You Enjoy Seeing Eclipses?
Speaking of eclipses, have you also had the opportunity to observe a total solar eclipse. We enjoyed The Great American Eclipse of the sun when we visited Columbia, South Carolina, in 2017. We met some friendly folks and had a super time. Click here to see a few pictures of the eclipse and the quaint Tyneford Farm where we stayed.
One last thing! For the fun of it, this web site lists dates of different types of eclipses from now through 2029. Enjoy!
I’m so sad that we missed it. These pictures almost made up for it!
These pictures are amazing!
These photos are beautiful! I didn’t realize this was going on at the time and I’m sad I missed out on seeing it in person
Wow! You captured some amazing photos! I didn’t get to make it out with my camera, but it was a pretty incredible sight. 🙂
I love how the name sounds like something that a kid would make up in their pretend adventures. Like, “How epic can we make this sound?” Hahaha I love that you gave a link to the moon names because that really is so interesting to me!
WOW! These are amazing pictures! Thank you so much for sharing them!
That’s one of the reasons we stayed up too! Because it is the last one for awhile. It was such a cool sight to see. You got much better photos than I did!
We love star gazing and did stay up to catch this amazing event, the sky was crystal clear here too! You captured some awesome imagery what gear do you use? We’re looking at a new telescope that has a mount for my Canon. Thanks for the post, look forward to hearing back. Thanks! 💚
It was a beautiful sky that night. Thank you very kindly for the compliment, Angela! We do not have a telescope. Richard took those pictures using a Cannon 77D DSLR camera with a 500 mm telephone lens. At what kind of telescope are you looking?
Well, they’re outstanding photos, you can’t beat Canon for quality and color! We’ve been looking for a little while now but are leaning towards the Orion 10023 SkyQuest XX12i large but it breaks down easily. Looking to utilize it for our pop-up dinner parties to entertain guests and of course snag some great photos too! Thanks for the reply! 🙂
Beautiful images! I couldn’t see the moon well from my house that night so these are great. Thanks for sharing!
We saw it! It was pretty spectacular…especially rising over the mission ruins and reflected in a two hundred year old fountain. I got chills!!
Yes, I admit it, I LOVE the drama of a blood moon. I was not able to view it this time but your photos make up for it! Thank you for sharing these with the world!
These pictures are amazing! Missed the moon this time. I should make it up next time around.
Wow! You really capture the event of the night! My husband couldn’t contain himself that night- meaning that he was very excited about the whole thing.
We missed it because of cloud cover. That seems to be the case for most phenomena. However, we enjoy the night skies regularly because we have very little light pollution. Thank you for the gorgeous photos.
Thank you for the astronomy lesson! The photos were incredible!
This year was the first time in my 48 years that I’ve seen a lunar eclipse. I’m not sure why I waited so long to get outside and see one. Your photos are incredible and inspire me to get some better photography equipment!
Lovely photo’s. It was almost like I was there!! Great job of capturing the spirit of the event.
Wow! Amazing photos! We missed it unfortunately but I’ve loved seeing everyone post about it.
I missed it!!! Ack! I do know that I had the perfect camera to take a picture of it too! Your photos came out perfect!
I love all things solar!! I missed this eclipse, and I was so disappointed!! These are amazing pictures.
I stayed up, and it was so cool. I took some pictures, but I was so cold, I was shaking. I should’ve used a tripod. But I was pretty happy with my pictures. Yours look great!
You took wonderful pictures of the eclipse and this is such a thorough account! I did see it as my baby wouldn’t sleep so I was awake late. I’m glad I got to see it though
Beautiful pictures! Our family also loves cool sky events. My kids grew up trudging into empty fields in the wee hours with a thermos of hot chocolate waiting for meteor showers…they would have loved seeing this!
Great post! Loving all the background info. I’m kind of bummed, because I flew home the night of the eclipse and missed most of it. I got a great glimpse of them moon when I was getting to my car, and then it was even further obscured as I was driving home. I’ll have to mark my calendar for 2021 so I don’t miss the next one!
Those pictures are amazing! We totally spaced it and missed out!
I was too sleepy to stay awake, but now it has been keeping me up all week! LOL. It has been a stunning moon this week. I never knew why it was called a blood wolf moon, so I appreciate you sharing that information.
We had some cloud coverage but got a peek at least! I love this astronomical occurrences and try to participate in as many as I can. They are worth staying up late for, or traveling to get a better view.
What beautiful pics! Thank you for sharing because I slept right through it! 🙂
We were on a short weekend trip and had planned to do some Star-gazing and the guy didn’t show up. We were out on a secluded horse ranch and had an exceptional view of the sky and could see the full moon and the beginning of the eclipse. I was so tired though, I couldn’t stay awake to watch it. I missed a great opportunity, but your pictures gave me a good idea of what it looked like. I found the information about the blood moon and wolf moon fascinating. Thanks for sharing!
Great article! Answers all my questions! So fascinating!
I was so looking forward to watching the blood moon this year. We had clouds roll in that evening so we didn’t get to witness it. I was so disappointed. I was up early plowing snow and witnessed the full moon set that morning. It was out of the eclipse and not blood red but it was still a magnificent sign! The best lunar eclipse I ever watched was years back and we were camped out in the mountains. It was fantastic. Thanks for share all the moon facts. I love this kind of stuff!
It was a beautiful sight. Great information in your article about the background of the event. Great pictures as well!
Beautiful! I love eclipses! I’m sorry I missed this one. It was just too cold.
I didn’t get to see it, but your photos are amazing! Thanks for sharing the facts and the dates of future events. I hope to be able to watch one in the future with my kiddos 🙂
These are great photos!!! Sadly, I missed the opportunity, but appreciate all the photos everyone has posted. Great job with the background info, too!
We did catch the blood moon! I love full moons and all moon work. Great post! And great pics!