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Super Blood Moon Rises Over Central Valley
Blood Moon
Rising steadily over Riverbank rooftops, the annual ‘Blood’ Moon graced neighborhood skies on Sunday evening, May 15. - photo by Ric McGinnis

Star gazers in many neighborhoods across the state were dazzled by the appearance of the ‘Blood’ Moon, a full moon that turns a reddish copper color during a lunar eclipse, lasting about an hour. During that time, the earth’s orbit spun it into the path of the light coming from the sun and reflecting back to us from the moon, putting it completely in the earth’s shadow. The reddish hue is created by sunlight that is projected through the earth’s atmosphere onto the moon’s shadowed surface.

This time, the blood moon coincided with a separate event — a ‘Super’ Moon. It’s when the moon’s orbit is in its closest point near earth, so it appears larger than normal. The rare double phenomenon occurred over the past weekend.

The next blood moon eclipse is expected in November.