THE FIRST 'super blue blood moon' for more than 150 years will happen on Wednesday night.

The rare celestial event is a combination of the moon being at its closest point to earth (or super moon), the second full moon in a month (or blue moon), and a lunar eclipse, when the earth casts a red shadow on the moon.

The 'trifecta' will have stargazers in the western hemisphere reaching for their telescopes.

A beautiful moon bathed Hampshire in light on Monday evening, and you can scroll through the gallery above to see photos from the Daily Echo Camera Club.

However the full show won't be visible to astronomers in the UK.

Although we will be able to see the blue moon, the eclipse won't be visible over Europe.

And the super moon will be visible on Tuesday at 9am.

Derek Haselden from Solent Amateur Astronomers said: "We will be able to see the full moon which rises at just after 5pm GMT. It'll be visible all night - assuming clear skies! We will be able to see some stages of the lunar eclipse on July 27 this year.

"The moon's orbit around Earth in not quite circular and this results in the moon varying in its distance from us. When it is closest to us, called 'perigee', it appears slightly larger though many people would not notice. Perigee occurs on January 30 at 09:00 GMT."

Although the observatory at Toothill is currently closed due for engineering works he added that the best place to see the moon this week would be "anywhere with no obstructions on the horizon, so somewhere flat.

"But, as the moon climbs higher over the evening that should not be a factor and the moon will be at its highest at about midnight."

NASA will be live-streaming the trifecta for those outside the US, where stargazers on the west coast will get the best view.

Program executive and lunar blogger at NASA, Gordon Johnston, said: “For the [continental] US, the viewing will be best in the west. Set your alarm early and go out and take a look.

“Weather permitting, the west coast, Alaska and Hawaii will have a spectacular view of totality from start to finish,” said Johnston. “Unfortunately, eclipse viewing will be more challenging in the eastern time zone.

"The eclipse begins at 5.51am ET, as the moon is about to set in the western sky, and the sky is getting lighter in the east.”

The eclipse is expected to last for about an hour and 15 minutes.