Stargazers were treated to a rare astronomical phenomenon when a total lunar eclipse combined with a so-called supermoon Sunday night. It was the first time the events have made a twin appearance since 1982, and they won't again until 2033. When a full moon makes its closest approach to Earth, it appears slightly bigger and brighter than usual and has a reddish hue. On Sunday night, that coincided with a full lunar eclipse in which the moon, Earth, and sun lined up, with Earth's shadow totally obscuring the moon. The event occurred on the US East Coast at 10:11pm EDT and lasted about an hour.
In Los Angeles, a large crowd filled the lawn of Griffith Observatory to watch the celestial show while listening to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" played by 14-year-old pianist Ray Ushikubo. "You always want to see the eclipse because they're always very different," says astronomer Edwin Krupp, the director of the hilltop landmark. The additional component of the Earth's atmosphere adds "all kinds of twists and turns to the experience," he says. Before the event, the Mormon church took the rare step of reassuring worried members that the eclipse would not bring on the end of the world. Those assurances proved to be correct. Check out the photo gallery for views of the celestial event from around the world. (More supermoon stories.)
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