The moon put on a rare cosmic show Wednesday.It was the first time in 35 years a blue moon has synced up with a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse.Hawaii and Alaska had the best seats, along with the Canadian Yukon, Australia and Asia. The event, which began at 5.45 am EST (1045 GMT) and ended at 11.15 am, is so-named because three celestial phenomena occur simultaneously: a supermoon (when the moon’s perigree, or point in its orbit at which it is nearest to the earth, coincides with a full moon), a blue moon (second full moon in one calendar month) and a blood moon (a total lunar eclipse, when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon). On that basis, the December 2017 supermoon was the only proper one that year and the January 1 supermoon is the only one in 2018. On other occasions, the moon can actually appear blue in colour because of the way light bounces off large dust particles thrown into the atmosphere by a volcanic eruption. The eclipse will be visible best in the western half of the U.S. and Canada before the moon sets early Wednesday morning, and across the Pacific into Asia as the moon rises Wednesday night into Thursday. Because the eclipse occurred at a time when the moon was near its perigree, it appeared especially large and bright to skywatchers. Add a total eclipse, known as a blood moon for its red tint, and it's a lunar showstopper.The moon passed into the Earth's shadow, and when it did that, it turned a really deep beautiful red due to the Earth's atmosphere, hence the name "blood moon. In 1979, astrologer Richard Nolle coined the term supermoon to describe a new or full moon whose orbit is at (or within 90 per cent of) its closest point to Earth (the perigee). NASA said: “The January 31 full moon is special for three reasons: it’s the third in a series of ‘supermoons’, when the Moon is closer to Earth in its orbit – known as perigee – and about 14 percent brighter than usual.
A lunar eclipse is seen in Oceania, Asia, and North America, coinciding with a supermoon and blue moon.