DES MOINES, Iowa — Sky-gazers had to get up early Wednesday morning to catch the first partial lunar eclipse over central Iowa in years.
The partial eclipse began at 4:44 am. At 5:46 a.m., the eclipse reached its greatest magnitude when 84% of the moon moved into the Earth's shadow.
The moon then set shortly after at 5:51 a.m.
In a lunar eclipse, the moon and sun are on opposite sides of Earth. Only part of the moon moves into Earth's shadow in a partial lunar eclipse, while the entire moon moves into the shadow in a total lunar eclipse.
The western United States to eastern Asia got the full spectacle of a total lunar eclipse, the first in the world in over two years.
Wednesday morning's moon has been dubbed the "Super Flower Blood Moon" for a few reasons:
Super: This is a supermoon as this will be the closest the moon gets to Earth in 2021
Flower: The May full moon is always known as the "Flower Moon"
Blood: Lunar eclipses turn the moon a reddish hue (Although blood red is a bit of an exaggeration)
The next partial lunar eclipse over Iowa will occur early on November 19 later this year.
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