Early-rising stargazers in the UK woke up to a lunar eclipse just before dawn on Friday.

The eclipse was partial for most of the UK, with the Earth’s shadow only covering part of the Moon.

But some western areas of the UK, as well as the Americas and some Pacific islands, saw a total lunar eclipse. It is the first since May 2022, when the Moon turned completely red.

A stunning “blood Moon” was created as the Moon moved into Earth’s shadow, gradually darkening before turning a dusky red.

Stargazers around the world caught the first sign of the lunar event, which began at 05:09 GMT, on a livestream run by LA’s Griffith Observatory.

A lunar eclipse happens when Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, blocking sunlight and casting a shadow on the Moon’s surface.

Kathleen Maitland caught a glimpse of the spectacle while stargazing at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex.

“You’ve got the sun coming up behind, then this Moon going into a sliver and turning red,” she told the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

“It was amazing to watch.”

A lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes through the outer region of Earth’s shadow, called the penumbra.

A total lunar eclipse requires the Earth to obscure the light from the Sun hitting the Moon – meaning the three celestial objects have to be in alignment.

People sometimes refer to a lunar eclipse as a “blood Moon” because of the way the Moon can turn a deep, coppery red during the eclipse.

This is caused by a process known as “Rayleigh scattering”, which also makes the sky blue and our sunsets red.

When sunlight has to pass through the Earth’s atmosphere to reach the Moon, this causes the Moon to appear a different colour, explained astronomer Jake Foster, at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

When light is deflected by the small particles in Earth’s atmosphere, it scatters more of the shorter blue wavelengths, leaving longer red wavelengths to remain visible.

Mr Foster said: “Red light is mostly unaffected by the gases of the atmosphere, so it travels all the way through them and out the other side where it can shine on the Moon, making it appear red.”

The next total lunar eclipse is due to take place at the start of September – but will be most prominent over central and east Asia, with only some parts of the UK seeing the total eclipse effect.

Sign up here to receive our new weekly newsletter highlighting uplifting stories and remarkable people from around the world.