Supermoon and lunar eclipse delight star gazers

A supermoon has lit up the sky across the world coinciding with a rare partial lunar eclipse.

The Moon could be seen to appear brighter and bigger on Tuesday night.

Supermoons happen when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit.

A rare partial lunar eclipse – when the Earth’s shadow covers part of the Moon – also happened with about 4% of the Moon’s disc covered in darkness.

Overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, the partial lunar eclipse was visible in the UK, Europe, North and South America and the whole of Africa.

In the UK it occurred between 01:40 BST and 05:47, reaching its peak at 03:44.

For those in the US, the eclipse is visible between 20:41 EST and 00:47 – or 22:44 at its maximum.

This month’s full moon – known as the Harvest moon – is the second of four “supermoons” this year.

There will be two total lunar eclipses visible from the UK next year – on 14 March and 7 September.