Wairarapa lenses on 'blood moon'

The rare blood moon looms in the Wairarapa sky on Tuesday 15th April 2014. Photo by Vijay Paul.

It's likely Wairarapa had the best views in the country for Tuesday night's "blood moon".

The red effect is the result of a lunar eclipse, which happens when the Earth is positioned between the sun and the moon, which casts a blood-red glow over the moon.

Eketahuna residents were especially fortunate, blessed with a crystal-clear night with no clouds in sight.

"It was redder than Mars, it glowed blood-red,"said an Eketahuna resident who didn't want to be named.

He said Eketahuna had a clear view of the night sky due to the lack of street lights. "You get some absolute stunners."

Two shadows crossed the moon during the event on Tuesday - the large penumbra, which dims the moon, and the umbra, a smaller opaque shadow caused by the Earth blocking out the light from the sun to the moon.

On Tuesday the eclipse started at 7.08pm, with the full eclipse lasting for over an hour.

There will be three further lunar eclipses over 2014/15, known to astronomers as a tetrad.

The next one will occur at midnight on October 8.

Former Makoura College student Beau Elton was ready with his camera to capture the action on Tuesday night.

He took the photo after the full eclipse, so there was a light-red glow on the moon as it passed through the earth's shadow.

"The shot was taken at 10.30pm, with a Canon 650D with a 50-200mm telephoto lens."

Mr Elton said this was the first lunar eclipse he had captured.

"I thought it was really weird seeing the moon under a different light because I'd never experienced it before."

The next event on his astronomy photography radar is to "shoot a solar eclipse".

Masterton man Vijay Paul struggled initially with clouds but got his shots, using a Canon 7D, between 7:38-8:11pm.

"I believe that this is a once-in-a-lifetime, you never know about the future. Though the initial stages were thwarted by clouds I was lucky to see and capture a glimpse of it afterwards. I was thrilled like a child while looking at it, Wairarapa is indeed beautiful," Mr Paul said.