The skygazers in the United States and Canada were greeted with a rare lunar eclipse, called the Blood Moon, before the sunrise on Saturday.

According to the space experts, the starting stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the west were witnessed by the people in western South America and eastern North America. On the other hand, its ending stages in the east were visible from the middle Asia, including countries like India, Russia and China after sunset on Saturday (April 4).

The space enthusiasts also got the rare opportunity to view the Blood Moon eclipse in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. It was a real disappointment for the people in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Iceland and Greenland who were not the lucky ones to have a glimpse of the rare lunar eclipse.  The poor weather conditions in some parts of Australia also forced some to stay deprived of the Blood Moon event.

The sky gazers in west of the Mississippi were very fortunate as there were able to see the entire Blood Moon of a total eclipse. But in New York, only some of the surface of the eclipsed moon was visible.

Saturday’s Blood Moon, which marks the third in the series of four consecutive lunar eclipses, was the shortest lunar eclipse of the century as it lasted just for five minutes.

The initial two eclipses occurred in the months of April and September last year. The fourth moon event will took place on September 28.

If go by the record, the shortest total lunar eclipse was occurred in the year 1529. NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams said that the lunar eclipse lasted just one minute and 42 seconds.