"The color is due to Rayleigh scattering - where the Sun's blue light is scattered off molecules in Earth's atmosphere - which also happens at sunsets," said the Royal Astronomical Society of Britain. "The Sun's red light is scattered much less by air, and is bent by Earth's atmosphere in a process called refraction, traveling all the way through it to light up the moon's surface."

Total or partial lunar eclipses happen at least twice a year on average. It's just that they are not visible everywhere. It's a rare event when a total lunar eclipse is visible on so many parts of the Earth's land mass, as is the case on Monday.

Europeans last saw a total lunar eclipse in July 2018. The next chance for a glimpse at a lunar eclipse will be in 2022, but the entire continent won't be able to see the totality of a lunar eclipse again until 2029.

North Americans may get their next glimpse of a blood moon in 2021 along the West Coast and 2022 on the East Coast.

Afp - Ap