Blood Moon, home

All eyes were on the Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, when it rose tonight. Not only was this a Supermoon, because the lunar orbit brought our satellite especially close to Earth, but not much after it climbed into the sky, it would start being eclipsed as it entered the planet's long shadow in space. At one time, the Harvest Moon was a boon to farmers, who could take advantage of the extra illumination and work later to bring in the crops. On this evening, the moon would be a boon to observers, who could take a break from watching Sunday night football to see something more rare and most heavenly. Media accounts hyped the fact that, at the point the eclipse reached totality, we'd be seeing a so-called "Blood Moon," the result of atmospheric dust filtering the dim light and turning the moon red. The hype wasn't too far off, but I found the color more spectacular than sanguinary.