WHILE most stargazers were transfixed by yesterday’s super ‘blood moon’ one astronomer boldly looked beyond.

Celestial enthusiast Mary Spicer was able to catch a glimpse of the Milky Way as the moon dimmed in the early hours of the morning.

The unique sight was possible due to a lunar eclipse that combined with a “supermoon” – when the moon is in the closest part of its orbit with the Earth and appears larger in the sky.

The spectacle began just after 1am, with the “total” phase – when the moon is completely in shadow – lasting from 3.11am to 4.24am.

Miss Spicer, 42, from Tackley near Bicester, was one of many who stayed up overnight to catch the phenomenon, which last happened in 1982.

She said: “Normally when there is a full moon it’s so bright it lights up the whole sky.

“As the moon became dimmer you could see things that you wouldn’t otherwise see during a full moon.

“I could see the Milky Way and other stars around the moon – it was quite amazing.”

Along with her fiancé Mark McIntyre, the couple had three cameras pointing at the moon taking time-lapse shots between 1am and 5am.

She said: “It started at about 1.10am but there was not much to see in the first hour.

“Just after 2am a black shadow started to stretch across the moon.

“The moon then got dimmer and dimmer and started to look very red.

She added: “It was probably just after 4am that a sliver of light emerged and it was a bit like dawn.

“I was a bit tired the next day but it was worth staying up for.”

Roger Davies, the Philip Wetton Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University, stepped outside his Kidlington house to get a better look of the eclipse.

He said: “It was a remarkable thing to see.

“The full moon is very bright but this was quite different in that it was red and had an ethereal quality to it .”

Prof Davies explained the moon appeared an orangey / red colour for the same reason the sun does when setting.

The light has to pass through the Earth’s atmosphere – which contains air and dust – and is refracted (bent), producing the reddish tint.

Lots of Oxford Mail readers sent in their snaps of the rare event too.