--- title: What Is a Supermoon Eclipse: Blood Moon Questions Answered description: Stargazers were treated to a rare sight on Sunday night: a supermoon eclipse canonical: https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/ author: Mark Rivett-Carnac article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-28T07:04:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:39.032Z article:section: Science og:title: All Your Supermoon Eclipse Questions Answered og:description: A rare celestial event explained og:url: https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86c4fd2665197f01/698865b6196cf45fc30383f1/ap_948608454771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4333 og:image:height: 2437 og:image:alt: South Africa Supermoon Eclipse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: All Your Supermoon Eclipse Questions Answered twitter:description: A rare celestial event explained twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86c4fd2665197f01/698865b6196cf45fc30383f1/ap_948608454771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # All Your Supermoon Eclipse Questions Answered > Sponsored content. 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A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home_ by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Sep 28, 2015 7:04 AM UTC  A so-called supermoon is seen during a lunar eclipse in Cape Town, South Africa, in the early hours of Sept. 28, 2015 A so-called supermoon is seen during a lunar eclipse in Cape Town, South Africa, in the early hours of Sept. 28, 2015 Schalk van Zuydam—AP by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Sep 28, 2015 7:04 AM UTC Stargazers were treated to a rare sight on Sunday night: [a supermoon eclipse](http://time.com/4051493/photos-supermoon-eclipse/). The phenomenon only happens when a full lunar eclipse coincides with the moon’s closest approach to the Earth. Until Sunday night, these events had not occurred in unison for 33 years, and another 18 years will pass before we get to experience a supermoon eclipse again. Here’s what you need to know about the celestial event. **What is a supermoon eclipse?** A supermoon happens when a full moon reaches the closest point to Earth in its orbit (the orbit is not a perfect circle, so one point, called the perigee, is closest). At this point, the moon is only 225,000 miles from the Earth. That’s what makes the moon look about 14% larger and 30% brighter in the sky. A full lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon line up, with the Earth directly between the moon and the sun, and the moon completely in the Earth’s shadow, which gives the moon a reddish tint. A supermoon eclipse is the simultaneous combination of these two events. **How frequently does a supermoon eclipse occur?** A supermoon or a lunar eclipse by themselves are not rare. But the two occur together very infrequently. Since 1900, a supermoon eclipse has only happened five times—1910, 1928, 1946, 1964, 1982\. The next one will happen in 2033. Lunar eclipses are far more common, usually occurring twice a year. **Why did the moon look reddish?** The moon’s reddish tint was a result of light being scattered through the Earth’s atmosphere and cast back toward the surface of the moon. Only light that passed through our atmosphere reached the moon, and since the planet’s gaseous envelope traps blue light, it acted like something of a filter, only reflecting the more reddish light onto the moon. That color can vary based on how much dust is in the Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse. The red hue has earned lunar eclipses the nickname Blood Moon. “You’re basically seeing all of the sunrises and sunsets across the world, all at once, being reflected off the surface of the moon,” NASA scientists Dr. Sarah Noble [told the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/science/super-blood-moon-to-make-last-appearance-until-2033.html). ### See the Best Photos of the Once in a Generation Supermoon Eclipse  A super moon rises in the sky near the Eiffel tower in Paris on Sept. 27, 2015. Charles Platiau—Reuters  The supermoon rises behind Glastonbury Tor in Glastonbury, England, on Sept. 27, 2015 Matt Cardy—Getty Images  Reindeer are seen silhouetted against the supermoon during the lunar eclipse near the village of Yavterishki, some 250 kilometers north from Minsk on Sept. 28, 2015. Sergei Gapon—AFP/Getty Images  A flock of birds fly by as a super moon rises in Mir, 60 miles west of Minsk, Belarus, on Sept. 27, 2015. Sergei Grits—AP  The super moon next to the Empire State Building on Sept. 27, 2015 in New York City. Joel Kowsky—NASA  The super moon behind the Washington Monument on Sept. 27, 2015 in Washington. Aubrey Gemignani—NASA  The Supermoon is seen during the early stages of the Lunar Eclipse near Big Ben on Sept. 28, 2015 in London. Joseph Okpako—Getty Images  Clouds pass over the Supermoon as it is partially eclipsed over Cape Town on Sept. 28, 2015. Mike Hutchings—Reuters  The Supermoon appears red as it is covered by the Earth's shadow during the total lunar eclipse over Paris on Sept. 28, 2015. Charles Platiau—Reuters  The supermoon appears red during the total lunar eclipse in the sky over Port-of-Spain on Sept. 27, 2015. Andrea de Silva—Reuters **How did it look in different parts of the world?** The full supermoon eclipse was visible from the eastern half of North America, South America and the western half of Africa and Europe. Stargazers on the East Coast of the United States were particularly well positioned to see it based on weather conditions and the convenient time of night it occurred. Stargazers in the western half of North America, the rest of Europe and Africa, the Middle East and South Asia did not miss out entirely. But they were treated to just a partial eclipse, and so the missed out on the full crimson hue. **How long did the supermoon eclipse last for?** The full eclipse started about 10:11 p.m. E.T. and lasted a little over an hour. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/"},"headline":"All Your Supermoon Eclipse Questions Answered","datePublished":"2015-09-28T07:04:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:41:39.032Z","description":"A rare celestial event explained","url":"https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/","keywords":["Space","astronomy","moon","Science topic","Eclipse","supermoon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86c4fd2665197f01/698865b6196cf45fc30383f1/ap_948608454771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86c4fd2665197f01/698865b6196cf45fc30383f1/ap_948608454771.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"South Africa Supermoon Eclipse","caption":"South Africa Supermoon Eclipse","creditText":"Schalk van Zuydam—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/","name":"All Your Supermoon Eclipse Questions Answered"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home","description":"A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6ookw4W2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-03-11T18:13:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6ookw4W2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/","duration":"PT13M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4051630/supermoon-eclipse-blood-moon-lunar-questions-pictures/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```