CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – A lunar eclipse took place very early Friday morning and 22News viewers sent photos that were of the out of this world!

A lunar eclipse like this one hasn’t happened in a long time. Planetarium Manager of the Springfield Science Museum, Kevin Kopchynski told 22News, “A lunar eclipse happens when the earth sun and moon line up in such away that the shadow of the earth is cast upon the moon and that makes the moon which would normally be really bright, it would be a full moon getting very dim and usually a reddish color.”

This was the second lunar eclipse of 2021. There hasn’t been a lunar eclipse quite like this one in quite awhile, and it has to do with the elliptical orbit of the moon.

“Sometimes it’s close to us, sometimes its further away. It happens to be at one of its furthest away points and the last time there was an eclipse when the moon was at its furthest away point was something like 1,400 years ago,” added Kopchynski.

This will make it the longest partial lunar eclipse in over 500 years.