![A Total Lunar Eclipse Spawns Blood Supermoon A Total Lunar Eclipse Spawns Blood Supermoon](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/matt-cardye28094gettyimages.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
You surely never wished you lived near Glastonbury tor in Glastonbury, England, but after the supermoon eclipse on Sept. 27, that may have changed. This stunning image of the moon at dusk, rising behind the town’s tor—or rocky hill—and its 14th century tower might be the best of what was a very good night for photographers worldwide. In this image, a couple of natural visual tricks were at work.
MORE: See the Entire Supermoon Eclipse in 9 Seconds Flat
For starters, there was the foreshortening of perspective that seemed to flatten the tower against the moon, as if they both stood at the same distance. More important was a trick a rising (or setting) moon (or sun) plays on the eye. The closer either body is to the horizon, the larger it looks, because the familiar buildings, trees and other objects around it provide scale. The higher the moon or sun climbs, the more it seems to shrink in the empty sky. But if you measure the total number of degrees the moon measures in the entire 180-degree, horizon to horizon arc, it’s just one half of one degree—and that’s true whether it’s at the horizon or high in the sky. In the days of the Apollo program, a few of the astronauts dubbed this the “Lovell effect,” after Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who first explained the phenomenon to them.
Whatever the name, during the supermoon eclipse, the cosmic illusion made for an extraordinary image.
See the Best Photos of the Once in a Generation Supermoon Eclipse
![A super moon rises in the sky near the Eiffel tower as seen from Suresnes, Western Paris A super moon rises in the sky near the Eiffel tower as seen from Suresnes, Western Paris](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-001.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Total Lunar Eclipse Spawns Blood Supermoon A Total Lunar Eclipse Spawns Blood Supermoon](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/matt-cardye28094gettyimages.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![BELARUS-SCIENCE-ASTRONOMY-MOON-ECLIPSE supermoon lunar eclipse september 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-eclipse-september-2015-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Belarus Supermoon Lunar Eclipse A flock of birds fly by as a perigee moon, also known as a super moon, rises in Mir, Belarus, 95 kilometers (60 miles) west of capital Minsk, Belarus, late Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. The full moon was seen prior to a phenomenon called a "Super Moon" eclipse that will occur on Monday, Sept. 28. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-003.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Perigee Moon/Lunar Eclipse Perigee Moon/Lunar Eclipse](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-lunar-eclipse-2015-new-york-city.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Supermoon Lunar Eclipse Supermoon Lunar Eclipse](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-eclipse-2015-washington-dc.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A Total Lunar Eclipse Spawns Blood Supermoon A Total Lunar Eclipse Spawns Blood Supermoon](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-eclipse-september-2015-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Clouds pass over as the moon is partially covered by the Earth's shadow during a total lunar eclipse in Cape Town supermoon eclipse september 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-eclipse-september-2015-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![The Moon, appearing in a dim red colour, is covered by the Earth's shadow during a total lunar eclipse over Paris supermoon lunar eclipse september 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-eclipse-september-2015-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A supermoon is seen in the sky in Port-of-Spain supermoon lunar eclipse september 2015](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/supermoon-eclipse-september-2015-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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Write to Jeffrey Kluger at jeffrey.kluger@time.com