Shropshire stargazers wowed by Super Blue Moon
A huge blue moon brought Shropshire stargazers to halt as it rose over the region last night.
Star readers took to Twitter to share images of the moon rising across the county and Mid Wales.
One user, Tin Corfield, who uses the Twitter handle @CorfieldTina captured the above stunning image of the night sky.
Nicola Sabin, who goes by @csabinphotos, captured the photo below at about 8pm at Benthall, near Telford.
A blue moon, defined as the second full moon in a calendar month, rose last night for the first time since July 2015.
It was also a supermoon, meaning the Earth's natural satellite appears 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter in the sky as it reaches its closest point to Earth.
Dr Gregory Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "It was high in the sky from about 7pm and was at its highest, and thus best, time at around 12.40am today."
Those expecting to see a lunar eclipse were disappointed as Dr Brown said it was "definitely not visible from the UK, not even a partial eclipse".
The eclipse, according to Nasa, was due to be "extra special" for those in the US and other parts of the world, where the blue moon coincided with a total lunar eclipse to become a "super blue blood moon".
The lunar phase fits the calendar definition of "blue" because there was another full moon on January 2.
The last blue moon occurred on July 31, 2015 and the next will be seen on March 31 this year.
Dr Brown said: "This coming full moon is unusual in that it is the second full moon of the month, when typically there is only one full moon per calendar month.
"Also, the full moon will be slightly larger than normal given that this is also a supermoon, so astrophotography will be more spectacular than normal."
