GA Tech student captures once-in-a-century image of lunar eclipse

ATLANTA — A Georgia Tech student managed to capture a once-in-a-lifetime -- once-in-a-century even -- shot of Friday night’s lunar eclipse.

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Richard Xiong captured a stunning image of the red-tinted Beaver Moon eclipse sitting just atop the spire of Tech Tower.

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The moon was 97% covered by the Earth’s shadow at its peak at 4:03 a.m. Xiong calculated the moon’s exact position and set up the shot at exactly 4:07 a.m. to get the image of the moon appearing to perch on top of the tower.

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The chance to repeat Xiong’s stunning shot likely won’t happen for hundreds of years, the university said.

The near-full lunar eclipse was the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years and will remain the longest for another 648 years until Feb. 8, 2669.

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