Photos: Across the U.S., sky gazers marvel at the blood moon lunar eclipse

Stargazers across the U.S. and other parts of the world tilted their eyes up into the night sky before dawn to witness the glowing “blood worm moon” staring back at them.

The stunning spectacle was the result of a total lunar eclipse — when the sun, Earth and the moon align. As the moon moved through the shadow of the Earth, it was also being illuminated by light from the sun — causing the moon to appear as if it was dipped in a deep red hue.

Its name is partly inspired by its crimson color. The “worm moon” component originated from Indigenous tribes, who noticed the emergence of beetle larvae resembling worms around the same time as the weather warmed up, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The overnight transformation was visible in every U.S. state and other swaths of the Western Hemisphere. The celestial transit began at 11:57 p.m. EDT on Thursday and ended Friday at 6 a.m. EDT. The total eclipse began at 2:26 a.m. EDT and lasted a little over an hour, according to NASA.