Lunar Eclipse Dates: 2014 Phenomenon 5.3 Percent Bigger Than Last, Next Will Come Around In April 2015 [VIDEO]
At 5 a.m. E.T. early risers got the chance to see the rare and brilliant "blood moon," the second lunar eclipse to occur this year.
"It's not that often that we get a total eclipse from the United States," astronomer Bob Berman told AccuWeather on Wednesday. "Sometimes we go years between getting them."
The eclipse was visible on both the East Coast and West Coast at the same time, though it appeared somewhat lower in the east as it was in the process of setting when it reached its height.
"One of the cool things about the moon is that it's the only celestial body in the known universe that's speed in space makes it move one moon width per hour," explained Bergman. "It travels its own width -per-hour."
According to AccuWeather, the U.S. will have four of them within a two-year time table. The Oct. 8 eclipse was the second of these and was 5.3 percent bigger than the first one, which occurred on April 15 earlier this year.
The lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth's show completely covers the moon, causing a red glow off the moon to be visible in the sky.
For those that missed the event, they will get a chance to make it up, just not anytime soon. The next total lunar eclipse will take place on April 4, 2015.
The fourth and final of the four consecutive lunar eclipses visible in the United States will occur in nearly a year on Sept. 28, 2015.
