On Wednesday, January 31st (i.e. today!), a spectacular celestial event occurred. For those who live in the western part of North America, Alaska, and the Hawaiian islands, it was visible in the wee hours of the morning - and some people were disciplined enough to roll out of bed to see it! This was none other than the highly-anticipated "

Super Blue Moon

", a rare type of full moon that on this occasion was special for a number of reasons.

For one, it was the third in a series of "supermoons", where a Full Moon coincides with the Moon being closer in its orbit to Earth (aka. perigee) and thus appears larger. It was also the second full moon of the month, which is otherwise known as a "

Blue Moon

". Lastly, for those in right locations, the Moon also passed through the Earth's shadow, giving it a reddish tint (known as a "

Red Moon

" or "Blood Moon").

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The super blue moon, taken by Kevin Gill in Los Angeles, CA, with a Canon EOS 60D mounted on a Celestron NexStar 6se. Credit: @apoapsys

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In short, you could say that what was occurred this morning was a "super blue blood moon." And as you can see, some truly awesome pictures were taken of this celestial event from all over the world. Here is a collection of pictures that a number of skilled photographers and star gazers have chosen to share with us. Enjoy!

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A collage of images showing the transition of the super blue moon, taken by Braden Ottenbreit of Saskatchewan, Canada. Credit: @bradenottenbreit

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Long exposure photo of the super blue moon, taken by Marc Leatham in Cypress, CA. Credit: @marcleatham

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Early morning photo snapped outside of Pucklechurch, Bristol, by photographer Tim Graham. Credit: @timgrahamphotorgraphy

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The lunar eclipse captured in Shiraz, Iran, by Alireza Nadimi using a Nikon D610A - Sigma 120-400 Apo. Credit: @ar.nadimi

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The phases of the lunar eclipse of the Super Blue Blood Moon, taken by astrophographer Rami Ammoun. Credit: @rami_ammoun

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Super blue moon taken by Bray Falls in Arizona. Credit: @astrofalls

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The super blue moon, as photographed from Los Angeles by Tom Masterson using a Tamron 150-600mm and Canon 6D Hutech UV/IR mod. Credit: @transientastro

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A long-exposure shot of the super blue moon above San Francisco by Taylor Meehan. Credit: @tm18210

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Composite image showing the sequence of the eclipse, as seen from downtown Houston. Credit: @sergiorill

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A composite of the phases of our super blue moon lunar eclipse. Credit: @jeffycan

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"Thanks to everyone who used the

universetoday

hashtag on Instagram to let us know about your pictures. There are many many more in there, so check it out."