Stunning Photos Show the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse in All Its Glory

In the Americas alone more than one billion people in 35 countries could bear witness to the total lunar eclipse that played out overhead from late night Thursday to the early hours of Friday. Tens of millions more in New Zealand and parts of Africa, Europe, and Russia could take in the sky show too. The performance was the result of the orbit of the Earth carrying it between the sun and the moon in a perfect alignment that temporarily blocked the sunlight that usually reflects off of the lunar surface, giving it its glow. In its place fell a deep shadow.

But the moon did not vanish from the sky entirely. Bright white sunlight contains all of the colors of the visible spectrum—colors that break apart and spill out when the light passes through a prism or through the sky after a storm, producing a dazzling rainbow. During the eclipse, the sunlight the Earth was blocking similarly separated into its constituent colors, with blue wavelengths being scattered through the atmosphere, while longer red wavelengths passed right through and traveled to the moon. The result: The darkened moon glowed a distinct orange-red—a phenomenon popularly called a blood moon.

Read More: What to Know About the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

The cosmic dance did not last long; the Earth continued on its orbital path and the moon began to brighten again after just over an hour. That was enough time, however, for countless professional and amateur photographers to capture dramatic pictures of the blood moon—images that are circulating around the world today. The eclipse was a little gift from the heavens to us. Here are some of the best images of that passing loveliness.