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Videos and photos capture incredible views of Tuesday’s total lunar eclipse


Early Tuesday morning, the full moon passed straight through Earth's shadow, producing a spectacular total lunar eclipse that was visible everywhere from Hawaii to the east coasts of North and South America.

Eyes, telescopes and cameras across two continents were pointed at the moon from around 5 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Greenwich Mean Time, to witness and capture the event. Lunar eclipses happen two or three times a year, but this is the first total lunar eclipse seen on Earth since Dec. 10, 2011, and the first that this hemisphere has seen since Dec. 21, 2010.

Those fortunate enough to have clear skies took plenty of photos and videos for those of us in The Prairies, Ontario and Quebec who missed it due to overcast skies, or for anyone who just couldn't stay up at all hours of the night to watch it. A slideshow of some of these amazing photos can be seen by clicking here.

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Fortunately, there are three more chances to see these remarkable events, as this one is the start of a 'tetrad' of lunar eclipses over the next year and a half. The next one comes around on October 8 of this year, and is followed by another on April 4, 2015 and one on Sept. 28, 2015. The first two of those will be centred further west over the Pacific Ocean, so they won't be visible from North and South America, but the Sept. 2015 one should provide us with another great show. Since we'll have to wait until at least January of 2019 for the next total lunar eclipse in this hemisphere and until 2032 for the next tetrad to begin, let's hope that the weather is a bit more cooperative for the rest of this tetrad.

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