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Close up of lunar eclipse, Dec 21, from the Stardome in Auckland - Source: Kevin Ng from the Stardome -
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New Zealanders got a rare chance to observe a total lunar
eclipse last night - which showed itself as a reddish moon around
the country.
In Auckland, it rose in a partial eclipse, further south in total
eclipse, while the lower South Island got to see the tail-end.
The action started when the sun set just after 8.30pm but with cloudy skies in Wellington and Auckland viewing was not as good as was hoped.
A lunar eclipse is caused when the Earth comes between the sun and the moon and the shadow of the Earth falls on the moon.
Grant Christie , president of the Auckland Astronomical Society, told TVNZ News at 8 that although most people had seen a lunar eclipse, people still get excited by them.
"There's no real scientific value in studying eclipses, we know where the moon is and there's no really mystery as to what it is, but they're great things to watch so even if you've seen them before you want to seem them again," Christie said.
Stardome Observatory and Planetarium said the eclipse was not visible in Auckland until about 9.00pm.
Marketing manager Gina Dellabarca had said people would have to get to a high spot to catch the beginning because it would be low over the eastern horizon.
She predicted with the sun setting, and the light filtering across the earth's atmosphere, the moon would appear in shadow but it would also probably be copper-coloured.
That's exactly how it looked in a photo sent in by a tvnz.co.nz follower from South Carolina. Alyssa Roark sent in her picture at 2.40am her time (8.40pm NZT).
:Later photos from New Zealand show the red light filtering
through the Earth's atmosphere and onto the moon giving it its red
copper appearance.
It is the first total lunar eclipse in almost three years
- the last one occurred in February 2008. There was a partial
lunar eclipse on June 26.
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