Photographer Graham Wiffen captures blood moon over Milford

SPECTACULAR pictures of the blood moon lunar eclipse have been captured by a New Forest photographer.

Graham Wiffen from Milford took the shots of the astronomical event seen across the globe in the early hours of Friday morning.

The full moon – the last one of astronomical winter – combined with a lunar eclipse causes it to appear red, known as a blood moon.

A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes through the outer region of the Earth's shadow. The moon appears red in colour due by the scattering of sunlight through the Earth's atmosphere.

This filters out the blue visible light but allows the longer wavelengths of red light through – the same phenomenon that gives an orange sunset.

Graham, a former professional photographer who now takes shots as a hobby, told the A&T: “I got up early, at 5am. That was the beginning of the interesting part in the UK as the eclipse was visible between 5.10am and 6.20am.

“I took the shots from my balcony in Milford. We were sort of lucky, as we got the partial eclipse, but the main red blood moon happened after moon set at 6.28am.

“It was very low in the sky, and as it got lower, it was going to go redder – but then it went behind the clouds.”

It is not the first time Graham has captured the blood moon, having also snapped it when it last occurred in 2022.