(CNN) The sun, the Earth and the moon lined up in a row to put on a light show in Sunday's night sky, and people around the world looked up to watch the lunar eclipse.
It was a special one for at least two reasons.
First, this moon was a supermoon. It happened to be at perigee, the spot in its slightly oblong orbit that brings it closest to the Earth. And that made it look particularly large in the sky.
Second, this lunar eclipse was the last in a series of four spanning two years, a phenomenon called a tetrad. Those can happen a couple of times in a century, or they can make themselves very rare, skipping over a few centuries.
The last supermoon total lunar eclipse occurred 33 years ago.
Rare 'super blood moon' eclipse
Earth's shadow partially obscures the view of a perigree full moon, or supermoon, during a lunar eclipse as seen from Stedman, North Carolina, on Sunday, September 27. The combination of a supermoon and total lunar eclipse last occurred in 1982 and will not happen again until 2033.
The eclipse is seen next to the Washington Monument.
Deer are silhouetted against the sky in Yavterishki, Belarus, as the supermoon is eclipsed.
The eclipse as seen from Los Angeles.
The eclipsed supermoon is seen next to one of the steeples of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
The supermoon is shown during the eclipse next to the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver.
The supermoon eclipse is shown over Jerusalem.
The supermoon is shown in Buenos Aires.
A flock of birds flies by as the supermoon rises in Mir, Belarus.
The supermoon rises over Miami Beach.
A plane passes by the rising supermoon in Montreal.
The supermoon passes by a statue of the Virgin Mary and the Child at Notre Dame de La Garde basilica in Marseille, France.
The supermoon rises from behind clouds in Berlin.
Spotting the supermoon eclipse
Space fans and sky watchers throughout much of the world were able to see the supermoon eclipse.
Renata Arpasova from Swindon, England, stayed up into the early morning hours Monday to photograph the copper-colored moon shining among the glittering stars. "We were meant to have clouds, but miracles do happen and we ended up with clear skies," she said.
In Ohrid, Macedonia, Stojan Stojanovski waited through cloudy, rainy weather on the roof of his house to get a glimpse of the lunar event. He was mesmerized by the reddish color and was able to capture several shots of the eclipsing moon basking over the city.
"The eclipse had a beautiful start with the clouds, and for the final hour everything was clear," he said.
Supermoon eclipse seen worldwide
Although poor weather conditions in parts of the United States dampened opportunities to spot the supermoon eclipse, countries around the world saw the lunar event. Here,
John Eggebrecht shared a photo he captured of the supermoon in Milwaukee.
Kazuma Koga said he was at Sunset Park in Las Vegas, trying to get a shot of the supermoon, but the clouds were hampering his view. He drove out to his favorite plane-spotting area near the airport to get a better view of the supermoon as well as to capture the light trails of the planes coming in. "I took a chance with the long exposre and was able to get a clear image," he said.
Another photo by
Eggebrecht of the supermoon rising over Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. The forecast called for cloud coverage throughout the area, but the skies cleared to reveal a large red moon. "The entire process was incredible," he said.
Misael Rincon created this composite image of Sunday night's supermoon eclipse over Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
Dennis Doucet captured the red supermoon rising above Osaka, Japan. In the background, you can make out the mountains of the Nara prefecture.
Stojan Stojanovski took a collection of photos of the supermoon eclipse in Ohrid, Macedonia. He said all the weather websites predicted cloudy, rainy skies. "But I waited and believed that the weather would get better and I would see this fantastic eclipse," he said.
Another photo by
Stojanovski of the rare lunar event shining brightly over the seafront city.
The supermoon eclipse, known to some as the "blood moon," was seen throughout North and South America,
Europe and much of the world.
Renata Arpasova captured a photo of the supermoon eclipse glimmering among the stars in Swindon, England. She says the lunar event was exhilarating and lasted for about five hours in her region. "We were meant to have clouds, but miracles do happen and we ended up with clear skies during the whole time," she said.
Zsolt Berend stayed up late to watch the eclipse in Westminster. He says the event started around 2:00 a.m. in his area and lasted for about two hours.
Bipin Raut did this composition of the supermoon eclipse from his home in Plano, Texas.
Another photo by
Raut features the supermoon's copper glow.
Photography student
Annemiek Schout captured this photo of the supermoon eclipse from The Hague, Netherlands. "Even though I expected the moon to be bigger -- like I've seen before -- it was a magical experience," Schout said.
Robert Ondrovic took this photo about 90 minutes before the eclipse started. He chose to set up at Peach Lake because he knew the moon would rise above the tree line.
In the Netherlands, photography student Annemiek Schout said the eclipsing moon was one of the most beautiful sights she has seen, especially with its reddish hue.
"It was a magical experience," Schout said.
Blood moon
Some people call the totally eclipsed moon a "blood moon" for the rusty red-orange color it turns once it is completely in the Earth's shadow. That shadow isn't perfect, so faint sunbeams sneak around the shadow's edges on all sides in the colors of a sunset, bathing the moon in brilliant, warm hues.
iReport: Share your supermoon eclipse images with us
Some others who saw the eclipse found it less exciting than the hype that preceded it.
"What people expect their pictures to look like tonight vs what they will look like #SuperBloodMoon," one user tweeted, with two pictures for comparison -- the first a huge, red ball, the second a tiny dot.
In Jerusalem, a CNN team saw Christians gathered near the Temple Mount late Sunday watching the eclipse and singing songs, holding hands.
"It's a beautiful sight in the nighttime sky," said astronomer Mark Hammergren. "It's a way of connecting us to the universe at large. It gives us this view that there's a bigger picture than just what we're concerned with in our daily lives."
The next supermoon eclipse isn't due until 2033.
CNN's Paul Vercammen and Monica Garrett contributed to this story.