Cloud cover across Sydney lifted just in time for stargazers to glimpse a lunar eclipse turning the moon a pale red in the early hours of Sunday morning.
About 350 enthusiasts gathered at the Sydney Observatory to witness the event, which saw the moon turn a pale red as it slipped into the earth's shadow.
"Despite all the weather predictions the sky was lovely and clear for most of the eclipse," Sydney Observatory manager Toner Stevenson told AAP on Sunday.
When the cloud cover across Sydney lifted at about 12.45am (AEDT), it revealed the pale red moon which reached total eclipse just after 1am and re-emerged at about 3.30am.
"It happened between the horns of (the constellation) Taurus, the bull," Mr Stevenson said.
The colour is caused by a scattering of sunlight as it passes through the thin ring of the earth's atmosphere.
While a lunar eclipse is not that unusual, with the previous one happening in June this year, Ms Stevenson said enthusiasts were now looking forward to the "very, very rare" event of a solar eclipse.
Staff from the observatory will be travelling to Port Douglas in Queensland, one of the few places where people will be able to view the event in November next year.
"It will go from broad daylight to night," Ms Stevenson said.
"The birds stop singing, the temperature drops and you can see the stars. It's a truly magical moment."
Stargazers will have to wait until 2014 for a repeat performance of a lunar eclipse, which was visible only in Australia and parts of Asia.
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