STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTO BY JOHN BOYDSTON

They’re called blood moons, but blood moons do not always appear red—they can appear golden or even brown depending on atmospheric conditions.

Sun Valley photographer John Boydston managed to take a photograph of a blood moon that did indeed display striking shades of red this past week from his vantage point in Elkhorn.

Boydston went to bed thinking it wouldn’t happen, as it was a little cloudy. But he looked out about 12:30 a.m. to see that the clouds had miraculously cleared for a brief period of time so he ran out to his driveway and gave it a shot.

“I groaned when I looked out and saw some stars because I was exhausted,” he said.

Exhausted or not, he spent the next hour taking photos, his fingers frozen to the bone.

“I wanted to shoot longer but I had to come in,” he said.

Blood moons appear reddish-orange because of the Earth’s atmosphere refracting sunlight. It’s not rare, but it’s not frequent either.

The Incans and Mesopotamians believed the blood moon was an omen portending death and overthrow of a king. Some Native Americans believed it meant that the moon needed care.