Many locals are still mooning over a thwarted attempt to see a rare lunar event in Bermuda’s skies.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning there was a blood moon, the first in a series of four lunar eclipses that will happen between now and September 2015. A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly behind the earth into its umbra or shadow. In the case of a blood moon, the moon does not succumb to total darkness, but glows red.

On Tuesday morning, it would have glowed red, if not for the thick band of clouds that frustrated local watchers.

Kim Zuill, Director of the Bermuda Weather Service, had some luck seeing it due to sheer tenacity. She said the problem was stubborn stratocumulus clouds which covered the moon.

“But with the aid of iPod app Planet Finder and satellite imagery I was patient enough to wait for the promised glimpse,” she said. “I didn’t see the total eclipse, but at 5.56am I was ready for the cloud gap of eleven minutes. It was worth the disrupted sleep.”

Others, didn’t have the patience to wait that long.

“Before going to bed last night, I set the alarm on my phone for 4am,” said Aderonke Bademosi, who is known for her creative photography. “I was determined to get some great shots of the blood moon.”

Her alarm rang and she sprang from bed “ninja-like”.

“Dressed in my pyjamas, I went out to the front yard to see exactly where the moon was,” she said. “Couldn’t see it. I figured I needed to get serious, so I returned to the house, put on my thick robe, a pair of sneakers and grabbed my camera.

“Instead of stopping in the front yard, I started walking up the hill. Still no moon. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong place. I went to the back of the house. Nothing. No bloody moon!”

After turning to Facebook for advice and reassurance, she saw that others were have just as much difficulty and went to bed.

Another local photographer Gerri Crockwell-Sequeros was also disappointed.

“I tried several times to photograph the clouds over the moon, but only succeeded in getting a black screen,” she said. “I keep saying I need a better camera.”

The next total eclipse of the moon will be on October 8 of this year, but unfortunately the best visibility will be from western North America. Those of us on the eastern side of North America will only be able to see part of the eclipse before the Moon sets below the horizon.

The last two in the blood moon tetrad will be on April 4, 2015 and September 28, 2015.

See a video of the eclipse thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/04/video-if-you-missed-eclipse-you-wont-have-to-wait-long-for-the-next-blood-moon.html/