That fiery red ball, just so ultra-awesome aint it! Now, wait, how does that occur? Let me explain (I will try my best to make it light)

As what we had been taught in primary school science, moon does not produce light but simply reflect sunlight and it orbits around the earth once every 29 and a half days (Just for information, the word "month" is derived from the Moon's 29.5 day period). The moon would appear as if it is changing shape in the sky as in revolve around mother earth. (This is also the reason why juliet forbit romeo to swear his love upon moon, for its ever changing) This is caused by the different angles from which we see the bright part of the Moon's surface. (The most common incorrect concept given for the change of moon shape is that we are seeing the shadow of the Earth on the Moon! tsk!)

Now back to the main point, an eclipse of the moon only occur at full moon and if the moon passes through earth's shadow. The shadow is composed of two cone-shaped components, one nested inside the other. The outer or penumbral shadow is a zone where the Earth blocks part of the Sun's rays from reaching the Moon. Whereas, the inner or umbral shadow is a region where the Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon.

Now you might be wondering "If the Moon orbits Earth every 29.5 days and lunar eclipses only occur at Full Moon, then why don't we have an eclipse once a month during Full Moon?". The Moon's orbit around Earth is actually tipped about 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun. This means that the Moon spends most of the time either above or below the plane of Earth's shadow. No eclipse takes place. But two to four times each year, the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's penumbral or umbral shadows and eclipses occurs.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks the Sun's light from reaching the Moon. While the Moon remains completely within Earth's umbral shadow, indirect sunlight still manages to reach and illuminate it. However, this sunlight must first pass deep through the Earth's atmosphere which filters out most of the blue colored light. The remaining light is a deep red or orange in color and is much dimmer than pure white sunlight. Therefore appearing red in the above video.

If the Earth had no atmosphere, then the Moon would be completely black during a total eclipse. Instead, the Moon can take on a range of colors from dark brown and red to bright orange and yellow. The exact appearance depends on how much dust and clouds are present in Earth's atmosphere. Total eclipses tend to be very dark after major volcanic eruptions since these events dump large amounts of volcanic ash into Earth's atmosphere.

Sorry for being long winded! Therefore, such awe striking view was indeed a rare sight. One have to depend on atmosphere, location, timing (that killer exam period, rah!)and weather (damn, thats what we lack of!). So jealous of those guys in hawaii. Nevermind, lets try our luck to catch it again next year!