Cloud cover thwarts flower moon’ fans at Stonehenge
While the exquisitely-named super flower blood moon may have proven a spectacular sight across the United States, stargazers in the UK were not so lucky last night as cloud cover contrived to obscure the show in some areas.
Mays full moon coincided with the satellite being at its closest point to the Earth during its orbit, making it appear larger and brighter.
During the celestial event, the moon typically appears around 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter, according to the experts, but large parts of the UK were frustrated by a cloudy night going into Wednesday.
People who travelled to Stonehenge in Wiltshire in the early hours of the morning could only see part of the supermoon, with the rest bathed in cloud.
The full moon in April is known as the flower moon because its appearance coincides with the blossoming of spring flowers.
Mays supermoon also coincides with a lunar eclipse that will see the moon turn red, because it drifts into the shadow of the earth.
The Earths atmosphere then bends light from the sun and bathes the moon in a crimson red light, hence the name, but that effect will only be visible in parts of South America, Australia and South East Asia.
Stonehenge made for an incredibly atmospheric, even ghostly setting nonetheless.
The flower moon sets over Stonehenge on 26 May 2021