Red Moon and Spectacular Milky Way

The total lunar eclipse of 2014 April 15 in the crystal clear night sky of La Silla (a site of the European Southern Observatory), at the southern outskirt of Atacama Desert, Chile. The red eclipsed moon is next to bright white-blue star Spica in Virgo, and the red planet Mars, shining at its brightest, is less than 10 degrees below the moon. On the left along the Milky Way from bottom to top are the Carina Nebula, the Southern Cross, bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri, and the galactic bulge in the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. Click on the second photo to see a telephoto close-up view of the so-called Blood Moon next to Spica, seen on the National Geographic News. From the photographer: “Of about a dozen total lunar eclipses I have seen this was one of the most pleasant. Besides the clear sky, I really enjoyed just watching the red moon under stunning Milky Way overhead.”