Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Just One Of Mother Nature's Wonders In The Sky Right Now

DAVIS (CBS13) - It's not every night you get a spectacle in the sky.  That's why the UC Davis Astronomy Club held a viewing party Sunday night for the total eclipse of the rising full moon.

During totality, the moon takes on a reddish glow as sunlight passes through the Earth's atmosphere before hitting the moon.  That red glow signaling a total lunar eclipse only comes once a year or twice if the timing is just right.

"Two things have to happen.  It has to be a full moon. Because the arrangement between the Earth, the Sun and the Moon only happens at full moon," said Davis Astronomy Club coordinator Venita Domier.  "The second condition has to be met where the Moon has to be in what's called a descending or ascending node. So it has to be in complete straight alignment between the Sun the Earth and the Moon has to be in a straight line."

"This will be the first time I made serious efforts to capture the blood moon and the first time in Yosemite," said landscape photographer Brian Hawkins.

The last time we talked with Hawkins, he was chasing a so-called Moonbow.  That's when the moonlight is refracted through water droplets in the air, creating what looks like a rainbow at night. He just released moonbow video for the first time filmed at real-time speed.  Hawkins says the video is from 2016 to 2022.  He filmed at all times of the night, sometimes until 3 am in cold and wet weather. But Hawkins lets Mother Nature take the lead, just eager to share what he sees.

"I think it's very important to share these experiences so that people maybe want to come out to Yosemite and come to wild places and connect with nature and get some time to unplug from the world and see something new," said Hawkins.

Whether it's a lunar eclipse or a Moonbow, you may want to pay more attention to what's right above your head or one of Mother Nature's magnificent wonders may just go right over it.

"We go about our daily lives and don't look up. So stuff like this is a chance to stop and look up and see that there are amazing things in the sky," said Domier.

The next total lunar eclipse is expected on November 8th and moonbows are typically seen in April, May, and June.