The second full moon of January passed through Earth’s shadow in a Super Blue Blood Moon eclipse, a rare lunar sight visible to millions of observers around the world, on January 31. The moon appeared up to 14 percent larger in the sky as it orbited the Earth. The rare lunar trifecta was a combination of a blue moon (a second full moon in a calendar month), a supermoon (when the moon is unusually close to Earth, making it appear bigger and brighter) and a blood moon (a moment during an eclipse when the moon appears red).

A few more spectacular astronomical events coming soon

The next immediate total lunar eclipse will occur later this year on July 27, according to space.com. Experts predict that people living in South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia will have a great view of that eclipse. Eclipses of the lunar variety are certainly not the only eclipses we have to look forward to this year. We’re just two weeks away from the next solar eclipse, the first solar eclipse of 2018. “On February 15, the moon will partially block the sun over Antarctica and part of South America. Then on July 13, another partial solar eclipse will be visible south of Australia. The third solar eclipse of the year will also be only a partial eclipse, and it can be seen from northern Europe, northern Asia and parts of eastern Asia,” reported space.com. Afterward, another lunar eclipse will occur on January 21, 2019. It will most likely be visible from all of North and South America depending on the weather. Observers in some parts of Europe, Africa and Asia will also be able to see at least some portion of this eclipse. This lunar eclipse also happens to be a so-called supermoon. This means that the moon will be at perigee, or the point in its elliptical orbit at which it is closest to Earth.