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I took these couple of pictures around 2:30 a.m. Central Daylight Time.

“The Earth’s shadow consists of two parts: a dark inner core called the “umbra,” and a lighter outer part called the “penumbra.” Rather than being truly dark, the inner shadow is usually tinted orange or red by light passing through the ring of atmosphere surrounding the Earth. Depending on the atmospheric conditions on Earth in the band of atmosphere through which the sun’s light is passing, the umbra may take on a range of colors from light coppery-red to almost total black. The light illuminating an eclipsed moon is coming from thousands of sunsets and sunrises around the Earth. During some eclipses, these sunsets and sunrises are clear, and much light passes through; during others, clouds may block the light, causing a dark eclipse.” – “Four Blood Moons: Total Lunar Eclipse Series Not a Sign of Apocalypse” by Space.com

Interestingly enough, Mars reached its closest distance to Earth last night too. Early this year we also managed to spot phantom suns and solar halos under extreme weather conditions due to a polar vortex descending into Chicago.

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