A full lunar eclipse is seen during the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse in Palm Springs, California, on Thursday.
Stargazers across the U.S. and other parts of the world tilted their eyes up into the night sky before dawn to witness the glowing "blood worm moon" staring back at them.
The stunning spectacle was the result of a total lunar eclipse — when the sun, Earth and the moon align. As the moon moved through the shadow of the Earth, it was also being illuminated by light from the sun — causing the moon to appear as if it was dipped in a deep red hue.
Its name is partly inspired by its crimson color. The "worm moon" component originated from Indigenous tribes, who noticed the emergence of beetle larvae resembling worms around the same time as the weather warmed up, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac.
The overnight transformation was visible in every U.S. state and other swaths of the Western Hemisphere. The celestial transit began at 11:57 p.m. EDT on Thursday and ended Friday at 6 a.m. EDT. The total eclipse began at 2:26 a.m. EDT and lasted a little over an hour, according to NASA.
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The setting moon is pictured over the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi on Friday during Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan.
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A man looks through a telescope at the full moon, also known as the "blood moon," at the esplanade of the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil on Friday, prior to the lunar eclipse.
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People view the full moon as a section moves into shadow during a lunar eclipse, before dawn on Friday, at Stonehenge stone circle, near Amesbury, southern Britain.
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People gather on the roof of the district planetarium to watch a lunar eclipse in Bogota, Colombia on Friday.
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A blood moon total lunar eclipse occurs in Columbus, Ohio on Friday. Totality for the eclipse lasted just over an hour and could be seen throughout most of North and South America.
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The full worm moon rises above the skyline of Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty as the sun sets in New York City ahead of a total lunar eclipse on Thursday, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Scientists look at the moon displayed on a screen at the Foster Observatory in Santiago on Friday, prior to the lunar eclipse.
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A full moon is seen behind a statue after a lunar eclipse in Caracas, Venezuela on Friday.
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A full moon, also known as the "Blood Moon," is seen during a partial eclipse in the sky over Lake George near the Australian capital city of Canberra on Friday.
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Skygazers watch the full moon eclipse at Galileo Galilei Planetarium in Buenos Aires on Friday.
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A lunar eclipse is visible above Canary Wharf in London as the full moon passes into Earth's shadow.
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This photo shows the full moon, also known as the "blood moon," as seen past a circus tent in San Salvador, El Salvador on Friday during a lunar eclipse.
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People sit outside the planetarium to watch the total lunar eclipse on Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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A full blood moon rises over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif.
Juliana Kim is a weekend reporter for Digital News, where she adds context to the news of the day and brings her enterprise skills to NPR's signature journalism.
