(UPDATED) The eclipse is the second of four total lunar eclipses, starting with a first 'blood moon' on April 15, in a series astronomers call a tetrad

(Live stream courtesy of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center)

WASHINGTON DC, USA (UPDATED) Stargazers in the Americas and Asia were treated to a lunar eclipse Wednesday, October 8, a celestial show that bathed the moon in a reddish tint to create a "blood moon".

During the total lunar eclipse, light beams into Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow that gives it a red hue.

The early phase of the eclipse began at 0800 GMT, or 4:00 am, on the east coast of the United States.

NASA provided live footage via telescope of the eclipse, showing a black shadow creeping across the moon in a crawl that took about an hour.

Only when the moon was totally eclipsed did the redness appear. The total eclipse was also to last about an hour, and ditto for the return to its normal color. The total eclipse happened at 6:25 am on the US east coast (1025 GMT).

The moon turns red and orange during a total lunar eclipse, as seen from Wichita, Kansas, USA, 15 April 2014. Larry W. Smith/EPA

The NASA web site was peppered with Tweets bubbling with questions and comments on the heavenly phenomenon.

"This is amazing. Thank you for this opportunity," read a Tweet from the handle @The Gravity Dive.

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'Blood moon' to awe sky watchers in Americas, Asia