Lunar eclipse 2021 pictures: Stunning photos show beaver ‘blood’ moon’s partial eclipse

Friday 19 November 2021 07:21 EST

(AFP via Getty Images)

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The world has been treated to the longest partial lunar eclipse in years, with the Moon turning red.

The spectacle has been captured in a host of pictures that show the glowing crimson orb against the dark sky.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the light from getting to the lunar surface. That means that there appears to be a bite taken out of the Moon, with some of its surface going dark.

What light does get to the Moon has moved through the Earth’s atmosphere. As that light travels past us, it scatters, turning it red so that the Moon appears lit up in a spectacular bloody colour.

Photographers from across the world were able to capture that moment as it happened early on Friday morning UK time.

Here are some of the best of those pictures.