Supermoon over Philly caught in photos

The U.S. West Coast on Wednesday got its own version of a rare lunar trifecta – a supermoon; total eclipse, and a "blood moon," so named for the reddish tint that it assumes during the eclipse.  According to space.com, this is something that has not been viewable from the United States since 1866.

Here in the East, we had to to settle for a partial eclipse that occurred around daybreak on Wednesday. As bountiful consolation, however, we were treated to a not-so-rare, but spectacular, supermoon that happens to be a "blue moon."

This is the third consecutive full moon to qualify as "super." The moon will be as close to the Earth as it gets, about 220,000 miles.

As a result, NASA says, the moon is about 14 percent brighter than usual and the sky, 30 percent brighter.

Supermoons appear supersized when they rise; however, this one rose behind a cloud cover at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

But as the moon gained power and the skies cleared, the enhanced light was particularly dramatic, illuminating the light snow cover through the bare trees.

Here are a couple more photos of the moon as it transited the sky over Philadelphia by photographer Joseph Kaczmarek.

Area residents also took to social media to post their shots.