2:00 AM
It was the longest lunar eclipse anyone on the planet will ever see.
When the full moon disappeared from sight from 1.02 this morning it hid behind the Earth's shadow until 2.49 am - a phenomenon which will be unmatched for 1000 years.
Around New Zealand, thousands had watched as the
moon kissed the Earth's dark shadow shadow shortly before midnight and slowly slid from sight.
At the Auckland Observatory, director and Herald columnist Ian Griffin beamed with delight before a big crowd, and on the summit of Mt Eden moonwatchers cheered and clinked glasses.
Across the country the patient were rewarded with differing perspectives. In Nelson, a ring of pink could be seen around the moon. In Upper Hutt, it appeared orange.
While cloud cover in Auckland made the eclipse difficult to see through the naked eye, live images from the observatory telescope were available to all on a big screen inside.
Images from Dunedin, and from Australia and Japan were shown on the screen in the building.
For a brief moment, just after 1 am, a sliver of the eclipse was visible above the observatory, prompting gasps from the stargazers.
For some, computer images were not enough - dozens left the observatory to lie flat on their backs on the dewy grass outside.
On another volcano, cars jammed the summit of Mt Eden as up to 200 people lay on the grass or sheltered behind any outcrop against a bitterly cold wind.
Wrapped in blankets, the knots of people cheered when the moon - down to just a quarter of its size by 12.40 am - emerged from behind scudding clouds.
Among them were two 16-year-olds from Onehunga, Sam and Hayden, who said they planned to see a sight they wll never see again
At the observatory, one gazer, Ray Willmoth, seemed to sum it up:
"This is a unique moment - it just opens your eyes to how big the universe really is."
This eclipse sequence was taken in Albert St, central Auckland, using a 600mm lens, with a 1.4 teleconverter on a digital camera. The total eclipse could not be photographed - the sky turned black.
