See breathtaking views of last night's 'almost blood moon' - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

The event fell just short of a complete blackout. Earth's shadow swallowed all but a thin sliver of the moon at peak, leaving that last bit glowing silver against the deep red-copper wash covering the rest. The nickname stuck because the coverage was so close to total that the distinction barely mattered to anyone standing outside looking up.

For people here who stayed up for it, the timing worked out. The eclipse began around 9:23 p.m. Eastern and peaked after that, putting it at a reasonable hour for West Texas. Lubbock's flat, wide-open sky and minimal tree cover in spots like Raintree or out along the Marsha Sharp Freeway corridor give unobstructed sightlines that made watching easier than it would be in a lot of other cities.

The practical takeaway is simple: if you missed it, you have a wait ahead of you. NASA says the next total lunar eclipse visible in the United States won't happen until 2029, making last night's near-miss the closest thing to a full blood moon that people here will see for years.