Of course it was cloudy and raining...
Last night night saw many parts of the world greeted with a rare and distinctive lunar spectacle.
As the moon lined up with the Earth and the Sun, the moon darkened in colour switching from its silvery glow to a rustic, dark red colour creating a rare blood moon.
Mars added to the wonder on Friday night as it appeared directly below the blood moon at near maximum brightness.
Earlier this week, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland David Moore said that the whole site would be "spectacular" earlier this week, provided there was no clouds or haze in the sky.
In typical Irish fashion, we've had a glorious summer with almost no rain over the last couple of months, but on Friday night when we needed a clear sky, the god of rain took one look and said he was going to dash the party.
Met Éireann issued a rainfall warning yesterday so the writing was on the wall from early on, but many still held out hope that the clouds would part and the wonderful vista would be revealed.
It didn't pan out like that for a lot of people...
https://twitter.com/alicemckeon11/status/1022909724428300291
https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1022950037687599111
https://twitter.com/iamagnat/status/1022900511220137984
https://twitter.com/pdscott/status/1022947122814087179
https://twitter.com/davegantly/status/1022946321949491200
https://twitter.com/ainedownes/status/1022946849760706561
https://twitter.com/ArtOLeary/status/1022925444457418752
Historically, blood red moons were seen as omen for terrible events with their deep red colour. In a famous passage in the Book of Joel in the Hebrew Bible, it warns that "the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes."
For those of you who couldn't see it, here's an image of it from Hong Kong.
