The clouds were scudding across the sky following one of the most violent thunderstorms we have had for a while. Fortunately it stopped raining and the strong south wester provided enough breaks in the clouds to allow fleeting glimpses of this centuries longest total eclipse of the moon.

Although not as rare as a total eclipse of the sun, nor as spectacular it is a sight still worth seeing. Some of you may have missed it, or found it too cold out to bother, so here are a couple of images that I took.

The effect is caused when a full moon passes into the shadow cast by the earth. Some of you may think that this happens every month, but if you think about it, a new moon is in the day time sky, not the night. There is very little scientific value to the eclipse other than to cast an eerie red tinge to the moon.