Rare partial lunar eclipse of harvest supermoon delights UK stargazers

A partial lunar eclipse of a supermoon was visible across the UK and other parts of the world in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A supermoon occurs when a full moon is at its closest point to Earth during its orbit, with the Met Office saying this makes it appear 30% brighter and 14% bigger in the sky.

The partial lunar eclipse – when the Earth’s shadow covers part of the moon – took place between 1.41am and 5.47am UK time.

Ahead of the event, Becky Mitchell, Met Office meteorologist, said around 4% of the moon would be covered during the lunar eclipse.

Such an event will not occur again until 2026. But when it does, it will be much more dramatic, with 96% of the moon set to be in shadow.

A photograph captured from Wokingham in Berkshire showed a shadow across part of the supermoon at around 3.45am – the time the partial lunar eclipse peaked.

The partial lunar eclipse was visible across the world, with the spectacle seen in the US, South America, Europe and Africa, as well as small parts of Asia and the Middle East.

The supermoon, one of four that will have taken place by the end of this year, was a harvest moon – named so because it is the closest one to the autumn equinox and around the time of the traditional autumn harvest.

It will be visible for the next few nights. But it was at its fullest on Tuesday.

The first supermoon of this year was on 19 August, and the remaining two are on 17 October and 15 November.