In pictures: UK stargazers wake up to lunar eclipse

Early-rising stargazers in the UK woke up to a lunar eclipse just before dawn on Friday.

The eclipse was partial for most of the UK, with the Earth’s shadow only covering part of the Moon.

But some western areas of the UK, as well as the Americas and some Pacific islands, are set to see a total lunar eclipse – the first since 2022.

A stunning “blood moon” was created as the Moon moved into Earth’s shadow, gradually darkening before turning a dusky red.

Stargazers around the world caught the first sign of the lunar event, which began at 05:09 GMT, on a livestream run by LA’s Griffith Observatory.

A lunar eclipse happens when Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, blocking sunlight and casting a shadow on the Moon’s surface.

This is an illustrative diagram explaining a total lunar eclipse. The diagram shows the Sun on the left, casting light that is blocked by Earth in the center. The Earth's shadow extends to the right, where the Moon passes entirely through it. The diagram labels the different parts of the shadow: A dark central shadow where the Moon appears red due to the scattering of sunlight in Earth's atmosphere. Penumbra (lighter outer shadow), where only partial shading occurs. The Moon is shown on the right, appearing red due to the total eclipse. The BBC logo is present, and a note states that the diagram is not to scale.

People sometimes refer to a lunar eclipse as a “blood moon” because of the way the Moon can turn a deep, coppery red during the eclipse.

This is caused by a process known as “Rayleigh scattering”, which also makes the sky blue and our sunsets red.

This is when light is deflected by small particles – such as those in Earth’s atmosphere. It scatters more of the shorter blue wavelengths, leaving longer red wavelengths to remain visible.

The next total lunar eclipse is due to take place at the start of September – but will be most prominent over central and east Asia, with only some parts of the UK seeing the total eclipse effect.