In photos: Blood moon lights up the sky in stunning lunar eclipse display

The moon dazzled with a dramatic red glow Thursday evening into Friday morning, as it passed into Earth's shadow during a total lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth is between the sun and moon, and the three celestial objects line up in a nearly perfect row in an alignment called syzygy. When the moon is within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, faint sunbeams sneak around the shadow’s edges on all sides in the colors of a sunset, bathing the moon in reddish hues. This has led to the nickname “blood moon” for a lunar eclipse.

Total lunar eclipses always occur during the full moon, and in this case, it’s during March’s worm moon. March’s full moon is also considered to be a micromoon, which occurs when the moon is at its greatest distance from Earth and appears about 7% smaller than a typical full moon, according to EarthSky.

News.Az presents a CNN collection of stunning blood moon photos. 

The "blood moon" is seen from Mexico City, during the lunar eclipse. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images

The moon moves into Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse, seen from Stonehenge near Amesbury, UK, on Friday, March 14. Toby Melville/Reuters

A man looks through a telescope at the full moon at the esplanade of Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, prior to the lunar eclipse. Douglas Magno/AFP/Getty Images

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